To date, we’ve introduced both the benefits and the inefficiencies of informal savings groups. Today, we’ll share how mobile technology can improve informal savings groups. Injecting the benefits of mobile money, increased communication, and innovative apps into the savings group model can displace the inefficiencies that exist in trust, convenience, and security. Importantly, mobile technology does not compromise the intrinsic benefits of the savings groups. … read more
The Inefficiencies of Savings Groups
Last week, we introduced informal savings groups and their benefits. In this post, we’ll discuss how mobile phone technology can optimize the intrinsic benefits of a savings group through mobile money, innovative cash management applications, and increased communication.… read more
The Benefits of Informal Savings Groups
Over 70% of people in emerging markets do not have a formal bank account (Goss, Mas, Radcliffe, & Stark, 2011). Despite exclusion from what we consider formal banking, many people in emerging markets have figured out their own ways to save money. An increasing number of people are participating in informal savings groups.
Our goal in this series is to explore the effectiveness of savings groups. In this post, we’ll explain how they work and … read more