Microfinance Practice: Re: [MFP] Isn't this obvious?

All wise words, but maybe also a tad simplistic, no? Clients want only that which they know know about -- a client demand survey or market assessment would never have told you that people might like things like an Internet, social media, or going back further, the telegraph, the wheel, fire... The key to innovative product design is to know your clients so well that you not only know what they know they need, but also what they don't even know they need. And when you do that and build and promote your products, be ready to listen and adjust, because innovation is a trail full of dead-ends.

--- In MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com, Jeffrey Ashe <jaashe@...> wrote:
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> Dear Malcolm, Mahlom and Colleagues,
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> As one of those who got this business started back in 1980 when we lifted the idea of group lending from FEDECREDITO in El Salvador and launched what became a world wide movement I am embarrassed to admit that we did this from a position of woeful ignorance. Rutherford has had a key role educating us into how the poor actually manage their money and showed us what a relatively insignificant role we play in their financial lives. In those days we never asked how the poor saved and borrowed or really what they wanted. We saw the model and I introduced it to Accion. It seemed like it worked, people were taking out loans and repaying them, it was reasonably simple and low cost, group members spoke well about the methodology and recounted how they were helping each other and it offered for the first time a methodology that could cover its operating costs. We were looking at this from the perspective of the agency. The rest was fine tuning the model to make it more efficient so it could be expanded. If you have something that works reasonably well and this is the product you want to offer, why ask a lot of questions.
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> Jeff
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> Jeffrey Ashe
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Malcolm Harper <malcolm.harper@...>
> To: MicrofinancePractice <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Wed, Apr 10, 2013 2:31 pm
> Subject: Re: [MFP] Isn't this obvious?
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> Indeed, it is odd that 'client-centricity' (what a ghastly neo-logism, maybe we should call it 'decent marketing') is the latest new microfinance buzz word.
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> But the whole aid world from which microfinance has emerged is pretty odd, it's never clear whether the 'client' is the donor agency to whom 'we' are selling the project or the poor person who is meant to benefit from it. Usually it's the agency.
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> And microfinance inhabits the awkward middle ground between doing good and doing well, 'social enterprise' is the buzz word for that.
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> Most do-gooders studied the social sciences, most do-wellers studied business (whatever science that is). The middle ground is confusing, often hypocritical, but maybe something useful will emerge. Insh'allah.
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> ----- Original Message -----
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> From: Mahlon Barash
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> To: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com
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> Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 5:57 PM
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> Subject: [MFP] Isn't this obvious?
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> What I can't understand is why "Client-centricity is the latest buzz word in financial inclusion." It sounds like some recent revelation that MFIs should listen to what their clients want. It seems this should have been very obvious from the beginning of the history of microfinance. It seems obvious that products should be designed based on client's needs not what the institution thinks they need.
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> Mahlon Barash
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> Lima, Peru
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