It is now possible in Benin, a small country in West Africa, where most microfinance institutions (MFIs) are committed to Client Protection Principles (CPP) and to the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management (USSPM), to benefit from a microcredit without having to leave your home. This major innovation is a program set up by the Beninese government and supported by the National Microfinance Fund (NMF).
Awareness of the benefits of MMC was raised after several months of testing, and a pilot phase that showed positive results, by public authorities and MFIs in all of the country’s 77 communes.
MMC offers the customers the opportunity to carry out borrowing and repayment operations from a mobile phone, regardless of their geographical location. The digital finance platform developed by the NMF and made available to MFIs, allows these loan operations in real time regardless of the geographical location of the operation or the distance between the location of activity of the client and the MFI. Its distribution is thanks to sales agents (more than 10,000) who are deployed throughout the country. As a digital finance product, MMC increases the coverage rate of clients as well as expands the range of services offered through a highly secure mechanism.
The beneficiaries of this microfinance innovation are made up from the most disadvantaged sections of Beninese society, especially those excluded from the traditional financial system, and will have access to credits ranging from 50,000 CFA francs to 100,000 CFA francs, as well as other social benefits such as health insurance.
Finally, the MMC will lead to an increase in the penetration rate, the monitoring of credit granting and repayment operations, the reduction, identification and control of past due loans. The initiative also offers the opportunity to optimize the profitability of resources made available to MFIs and makes loan kiting impossible.
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