How the SME Response Clinic addresses gender information asymmetries
By Ana Singh, Communication & Marketing Manager at ConsumerCentriX and Ida Ingabire, Secretariat at New Faces, New Voices Rwanda
Investing in women’s entrepreneurship is good for business and essential for socio-economic growth. Women are more likely than men to invest a higher proportion of their income back into their families and communities; yet, most women-owned businesses across Africa remain stagnant at the micro-level, unable to grow.
The reasons holding them back are well-documented. First, women are less likely to access sufficient financing to grow their businesses, greatly hindered by challenges due to information asymmetries that put them at a distinct disadvantage to their male counterparts. In comparison, men are more likely to have access to the right information, training, and guidance to inform their dealings with financial institutions and plan effectively for their businesses in the long-term.
During “business as usual,” information asymmetry makes it challenging for women entrepreneurs to keep up. During a global pandemic, when updates related to financial products or services and government measures are issued multiple times a day, the information gaps can become even more unbalanced – leaving women entrepreneurs even further behind.
In late March, our team recognized the hardship that all entrepreneurs were facing when finding the right COVID19-related information for their businesses. After noticing there was no centralized platform that housed all the crucial updates happening across Rwanda’s private and public sectors, the SME Response Clinic platform was launched to address this gap and support entrepreneurs with relevant information. ConsumerCentriX, in partnership with Access to Finance Rwanda and the Private Sector Federation of Rwanda, created the website.
After reviewing data of the SME Response Clinic platform’s performance from the first few weeks, the team immediately recognized a gender problem when it came to web traffic. Only 30 percent of all visitors were women. Read this article to learn how we closed the gap. Only 30 percent of all visitors were women. Through further examination and analysis, it became apparent that the gender gap in web traffic was a symptom of the gender-neutral content and promotion of the platform on social media.
Recognizing a Problem
As a new platform beginning with zero followers, we relied heavily on an aggressive social media strategy. We launched a Twitter campaign and regularly targeted users on Facebook who exhibited entrepreneurial behavior and interests.
However, this social outreach strategy was not reaching women. For Twitter, a look into the data revealed that a staggering 93 percent of accounts using the campaign’s hashtag were men. While the gender gap on Facebook wasn’t as stark, men were still 73 percent more likely to see an advertisement and 80 percent more likely to engage with the content.
Two possible explanations shed light on our limited initial success in reaching women entrepreneurs in Rwanda. First, women in Rwanda are less likely to have access to phones with the internet and are less likely to be digitally literate than their male counterparts. Web traffic data indicates that roughly 80 percent of the SME Clinic website’s visitors access content through a mobile phone – putting women at a clear disadvantage.
The second barrier was the content itself as there was no particular gender lens in our early articles and videos. Instead, by producing only gender-neutral content, we were exacerbating the existing information asymmetries. We knew that we had to urgently switch up our strategy to reach women entrepreneurs with the right information to support their businesses throughout the economic downturn.
Mobilizing women entrepreneurs to access the right information for their businesses
In this video, Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Governor of National Bank of Rwanda and Chairperson of New Faces, New Voices Rwanda, and Ida Ingabire, Secretariat of New Faces New Voices Rwanda, explain the barriers women face when accessing information for their businesses and how SME Response Clinic can bridge that gap.
Developing Content through Partnerships
To create more compelling and meaningful content for women entrepreneurs, the SME Response Clinic partnered with New Faces New Voices Rwanda. From their own experience engaging with women entrepreneurs, New Faces New Voices emphasized the importance of making information available online and the necessity of mobilizing women to access the knowledge through a personal touch.
Though the partnership with New Faces New Voices, the SME Response Clinic delivered new content specifically for women entrepreneurs. Once finalized, we promoted on Facebook, specifically targeting women users who exhibited entrepreneurial interests.
However, to be seen as a platform that women could trust required a more involved personal touch. We decided to produce a Facebook event specifically for women entrepreneurs. The event allowed women entrepreneurs to ask high-level government officials, including Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, a Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, and private sector leaders about new government measures in place to support their business survival and growth.
While previous events hosted by the SME Response Clinic were held in English, the decision was made to have the conversation in Kinyarwanda at New Faces New Voices’ recommendation. By using the native dialect of Rwanda, there was a shared goal to make the event more accessible for women entrepreneurs, particularly those at the micro-level.
To increase attendance, New Faces New Voices reached out directly to their member through phone calls, bulk SMS, email and WhatsApp group messages. This outreach effort then turned into technical assistance support during the event, as staff helped users who were having issues accessing the live stream video. In the end, the panelists’ star power and the hard work of the organizers paid off. Even though only women received promotions for the event, the total number of users who viewed the live session outnumbered the turnout of our previous events on Facebook Live.
Final Thoughts
The event’s success meant that for the first time since the launch of the website, we were able to achieve gender parity in our weekly visitors. In the weeks and months following the event, we have learned that we can continue to achieve parity in weekly visitors if we publish content and produce events specifically for women. If we do not publish this targeted content, the gender gap returns without fail. While this overall shift in strategy requires more work and depends on successful external partnerships, women entrepreneurs’ benefits are too significant to ignore. In the coming months, the SME Response Clinic will continue to engage women entrepreneurs with events and relevant content for their businesses.
How Wanjiru Mbugua turned her side hustle into a thriving business
Watch and listen to Wanjiru share her experience of participating in the KCB Women in Business training program and how it helped her transform her side hustle into a thriving business. This video was filmed, edited, and produced by ConsumerCentriX for IFC and FMO
KCB Bank: Focusing on Women SMEs and non-financial services is a win-win for all
KCB Bank in Kenya explains how its tailored approach to the Women Small and Medium Enterprise (WSME) market – a combination of financial services and non-financial services including training, networking, and international trade opportunities – is delivering bottom-line benefits to both the bank and the WSMEs it serves. ConsumerCentriX produced this video for IFC and FMO as part of a larger publication on the benefits of integrating NFS into a women-focused SME banking proposition
PUBLICATION | Non-Financial Services: The Key to Unlocking the Growth Potential of Women-led Small and Medium Enterprises for Banks
Non-Financial Services: The Key to Unlocking the Growth Potential of Women-led Small and Medium Enterprises for Banks
Women-led small and medium enterprises (WSMEs) represent a great opportunity to banks: women own 34 percent of private businesses globally, including almost six million formal SMEs in the developing world. Yet WSMEs’ enormous potential remains largely untapped due to systemic barriers facing women-led enterprises globally. Providing nonfinancial services (NFS) alongside finance is an effective means for financial institutions to tap into the enormous potential of women-led enterprises.
In collaboration with IFC and FMO, ConsumerCentriX is proud to announce the release of the publication “Non-Financial Services: The Key to Unlocking the Growth Potential of Women-led Small and Medium Enterprises for Banks.”
Based on newly minted research, this publication examines the benefits to banks of integrating NFS that can help mitigate these barriers into a women-focused SME banking proposition. As part of the study, ConsumerCentriX surveyed 34 banks worldwide on their approach to and measurement of nonfinancial services, with a focus on their offerings to businesses owned by women.
KCB Bank: Focusing on Women SMEs and non-financial services is a win-win for all
Non-financial services were instrumental in growing Patricia Mwangi’s business in Kenya
NFS from her bank helped Wanjiru Mbugua turn a side hustle into a thriving business
Intensive analysis of five SME banking models, in addition to the survey results, previously published case studies, and other resources, found that well-integrated NFS offers for WSMEs yield positive return on investment (ROI) within one to two years. This is demonstrated through four key metrics: increased interest income; share of wallet, which includes cross-sell, deposit volume and fee income, including fees charged for NFS participation; loyalty; and reduced risk.
The publication also identifies four best practices in design and execution of WSME-focused NFS, which banks looking to capitalize on this opportunity can follow:
- Tailor the proposition to the needs and profiles of different customer segments
- Provide an integrated, one-stop experience for financial and non-financial services
- Build institutional alignment to drive results
- Integrate measurement into program design and delivery
Alongside Cathleen Tobin, ConsumerCentrix’s Anna Gincherman and Benedikt Wahler served as primary authors to the report. Their efforts were supported by the broader ConsumerCentriX team, including Istvan Szepesy and Dora Solymos for data analytics and Ana Singh for video production and report design. “We hope that key insights from the report will encourage banks to expand their value propositions for women enterprises and invest in strengthening NFS ecosystems for WSMEs,” said Gincherman.
AMI Online Bootcamp: Tools for Managing Risk and Learning from Others - Mathew Rwahigi
AMI ONLINE BUSINESS BOOTCAMP
Matthew Rwahigi, Owner of Thella Café
The SME Response Clinic is a digital platform powered by ConsumerCentriX, Access to Finance Rwanda, and Rwanda Private Sector Federation to support small and medium enterprises in Rwanda struggling to adjust to the economic realities of COVID-19. To provide much-needed training opportunities for the entrepreneurs, the SME Response Clinic joined forces with the African Management Institute.
Testimonial: Matthew Rwahigi, Owner, Thella Café – Saturday May 30, 2020
Matthew Rwahigi, a small business owner in Gisozi, was hit hard when the COVID-19 lockdowns began in Kigali. Luckily, as a participant in AMI’s trainings for small businesses, he learned the skills to negotiate with suppliers and his landlords and to make the tough decisions needed to help his business survive.
“The conversations and hearing from other colleagues through the AMI workshops, you feel like you’re not alone. At first I thought maybe I was in the wrong business, this was a bad idea, I just burnt my savings for no good reasons. But then you hear other people and you feel that you are in this with so many others. It gives you the strength to stay the course and find the resources to manage.”
What was most valuable for you about the AMI trainings?
First, I learned to focus on learning how to manage a business. I got to focus a bit on my business. Since I Getting to focus a bit – I hadn’t done business in the past, I did not have the tools and skills to plan and make tough decisions, like having to lay off staff.
Second, I benefited from networking and finding out what other people are going through. I learned a lot from this. I really value the community of business people and their input, because if my business is going to survive, I need these relationships. Now at least I have some knowledge, and if my business doesn’t survive, and if I started another business I would be better informed, and more empowered.
How has AMI supported you?
AMI is there when you need to ask a question, to give you tips and ideas. There is an online business portal with tools and courses, and these are important in continuing to build skills.
“The AMI group really helped us in empowering us to feel that this is not the end of the road, to have a feeling that yes, there is a pandemic but you can still try to tune your business up a bit to survive the pandemic, and even have an opportunity to continue after the pandemic.”
AMI Online Bootcamp: Tools for Managing Risk and Learning from Others - Yannick
AMI ONLINE BUSINESS BOOTCAMP
Yannick Tuyishime, CEO and co-founder of Tsapal Company Ltd
The SME Response Clinic is a digital platform powered by ConsumerCentriX, Access to Finance Rwanda, and Rwanda Private Sector Federation to support small and medium enterprises in Rwanda struggling to adjust to the economic realities of COVID-19. To provide much-needed training opportunities for the entrepreneurs, the SME Response Clinic joined forces with the African Management Institute.
Testimonial: Yannick Tuyishime, CEO and co-founder of Tsapal Company Ltd
Yannick Tuyishime is the CEO and co-founder of Tsapal Company Ltd, a footwear and apparel manufacturing company since late 2019. The company was brand new when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but participating in the AMI Bootcamphelped to keep business afloat during crisis.
“When we came up with the idea for our company, we saw that there are many problems in the community that we can do something about. The first is that there are high rates of unemployment in Rwanda and in Africa. The other is that we see that we can do something that can do boost Made in Rwanda products. Import taxes are high in Rwanda, and so by increasing Made in Rwanda products we can fill the gap by bringing prices down and manufacturing locally.”
With the AMI Bootcamp, Yannick learned how to better manage cashflow, negotiate with his landlord, improve communications between staff and with customers, and assess and plan for risks. This allowed him to receive a reduction on rent during the worst part of the lockdown, as well as to keep all staff employed by making some salary reductions as well as cutting down on unnecessary costs. The company even reduced some of the product prices so as to keep customers on board and not lose them during the pandemic.
Yannick encourages other Rwandan entrepreneurs to attend AMI’s courses and upcoming Bootcamps so that they too can benefit from the toolkit and learn to manage risks, negotiate with customers and suppliers, and bring larger visions to fruition while dealing with today’s challenges.
“I appreciate the AMI Bootcamp because now I record weekly all of our expenses in the business and use the project management plan. The other thing is that I’ve learned how to assess some risks – like in this time, what I’ve learned from AMI bootcamp is that I can sit down and see what is not going well, what is going well, in cash management. I can make an action plan to meet the risks that I’ve assessed. Wholeheartedly, I can’t thank AMI enough and I encourage everyone to attend AMI Bootcamps and for those who have already attended to take some of the other courses that they provide. When someone wants to grow a business sustainably the AMI bootcamp will really help.”
AMI Online Bootcamp: Tools for Managing Risk and Learning from Others - Justine Ntaganda
AMI ONLINE BUSINESS BOOTCAMP
Justine Ntaganda, Owner, La Corniche Hotel
The SME Response Clinic is a digital platform powered by ConsumerCentriX, Access to Finance Rwanda, and Rwanda Private Sector Federation to support small and medium enterprises in Rwanda struggling to adjust to the economic realities of COVID-19. To provide much-needed training opportunities for the entrepreneurs, the SME Response Clinic joined forces with the African Management Institute.
Testimonial: Justine Ntaganda, Owner, La Corniche Hotel in Rubavu and Nyabihu, and Salma Nkusi, Manager (it is a family business)
Justine Ntaganda and Salma Nkusi operate the “La Corniche” hotels in two locations in Rwanda, Rubavu and Nyabihu. The hospitality and tourism industry has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the mother-daughter team has found that the AMI trainings have provided an opportunity to take a step back, learn new business skills, and make decisions that will help the hotels to thrive in the future.
What was most valuable for you about the AMI trainings?
“My daughter Salma and I have benefited enormously from the tools shared by AMI. For me personally, the advice shared on tools for better collaboration helped us to choose to use “One Drive” to share information. The tool for analyzing clients’ needs was also an interesting exercise during this time because demand has changed a lot. It is important that we adapt and continue to do our business.” ~ Justine Ntaganda
With the AMI tools, we are now able to check our books on a weekly basis, track cashflow and be accountable. Now, we even have a meeting on a weekly basis with our staff using the data and make decisions about where we stand. Where do we need to cut, for example?
These tools are helping with day-to-day management and the trainings have provided content in an understandable way. What’s more, the session on goal setting has been very great. Now as a team we talk and think together about our long-term goals and put them in writing as well. This helps us to prioritize and to decide how we will track our progress together.
“AMI is pushing me towards the implementation of all of these new ideas that I had but weren’t written down, and didn’t have a timeline –the tools are great, and looking at budgeting of the organization is something that we need to have in place for banks in terms of funding, too.” ~ Salma Nkusi
How has AMI supported you?
For us, it has been like going back to school, only for our personal growth and for the benefit of our business. AMI has helped us create a budget, and not only that, but to learn how to communicate with our staff so that they clearly see that there are reasons that we make the financial decisions we need to make.
One other interesting area of support from AMI is their “A New Rise” daily meditation. It’s another way to start your day by clearing your mind, breathing, and planning instead of waking up and feeling as if you are just facing emergencies.
VIDEO | Introducing the COVID-19 Business Information Hub
Introducing the COVID-19 Business Information Hub
To provide the much-needed information and solutions for Ugandan entrepreneurs struggling with the financial consequences of the pandemic, Stanbic Bank has partnered with ConsumerCentriX on the Covid-19 Business Info Hub.
VIDEO | Introducing the SME Response Clinic
Introducing the SME Response Clinic
To support entrepreneurs in Rwanda struggling to adjust to the economic realities of Covid-19, the Rwanda Private Sector Federation has partnered with Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) and ConsumerCentriX on the SME Response Clinic.
Key Takeaways from the SME Response Clinic
By Anna Gincherman, Partner at ConsumerCentrix, and Jean Bosco Iyacu, Director of Programs at Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR)
With 148,092 registered Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Rwanda representing 99.7 percent of the businesses according to the Integrated Business Enterprise Survey (2017) by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), this sector plays a pivotal role in the country’s socio-economic development. However, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, this key driver of growth for Rwanda became imperiled as MSMEs across the country faced disruptions in the supply chain, demand and economic uncertainty.
To support entrepreneurs in Rwanda struggling in their time of need, Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) partnered with ConsumerCentriX and Rwanda Private Sector Federation on the SME Response Clinic. The platform was launched on May 3rd, a little over a month after Rwanda entered lockdown.
The goal of the digital platform is to address information asymmetry through the establishment of a centralized location for MSMEs to learn about the new policies, regulations, support structures and product innovations developing in response to the crisis and essential financial advice and business training. For all articles, simple language and a straightforward tone is used, and content is made available in both English and Kinyarwanda (the only local language that is used by all Rwandans).
However, as we all know, a website alone is not enough to drive traffic. To increase outreach, a Facebook page and Twitter account and campaign were launched the same week as the website. An Instagram profile was created a few weeks later. Since the launch of these channels, content promoting the website has been viewed on Social Media 4,032,652 times.
Beginning with no followers and an ambitious goal of becoming the go-to site for entrepreneurs in Rwanda during Covid-19 meant investing in advertisements. The promotional strategy differed by channel. For Twitter, the SME Response Clinic originally partnered with influencers on a campaign before switching to a strictly organic promotional strategy. For Facebook, there is a heavy focus on article promotions by directly targeting small and medium business owners. In addition to driving traffic to web articles, the content and advertisement strategy evolved as results proved Facebook to be a popular channel for amassing video and live event views.
As the platform grew so did the list of partners. The SME Response Clinic joined forces with the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda, New Faces New Voices Rwanda, African Management Institute, Argidius Foundation, Rwanda Bankers’ Association, and Tustawi. These partnerships ensure that the content on the website reflects diverse perspectives. Partners also play a critical role in promoting web content to their external audiences.
Through these partnerships, three Facebook live webinars were organized focusing on the banking and microfinance sectors response to the Covid-19 pandemic and on how the Economic Recovery Fund and other relief measures put in place by the Government of Rwanda would benefit women entrepreneurs during and post Covid-19 pandemic.
Key Takeaways
The last ten weeks have been a period of intense testing and optimizing. Here are the key takeaways:
- Content in Kinyarwanda is critical to reach the target audience. It performs better than content in English for most topics, particularly for articles on government measures and articles on the banking and microfinance sectors’ responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Women need to be explicitly targeted in order to ensure gender parity. At present, 48 percent of visitors are women despite an initial gender gap that heavily skewed toward men visitors. Achieving gender parity with traffic views meant actively creating pieces of content for women entrepreneurs and targeting them specifically on Facebook. Given the additional challenges many women entrepreneurs face in general and how they have been disproportionately affected as a result of Covid-19, this demonstrates the platform’s value by offering much-needed support for women entrepreneurs.
- Social media channels are effective ways to market the SME Response Clinic, with Facebook yielding the best results by far accounting for 64 percent of all referral traffic and reaches over 170,000 users per month. The SME Response Clinic is active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and uses both organic and paid advertising to promote content. While the Twitter campaign yielded higher levels of impressions, Facebook proved to be significantly more cost-effective when it came to engagements and website clicks.
- Video is essential for keeping users engaged with the content. Data from Facebook suggests that people are more likely to watch an entire video then click on an article and a recent survey on the SME Clinic conducted also revealed that users are twice as likely to prefer content in a video or animation format than in a written article format.
- Web traffic and social media performance is very closely correlated to the publication of new content and event promotion. Weekly reviews of visitors and views indicate that it is critical to post new content and promote events as often as possible to drive visits to the portal.
- Strong partnerships are key to the platform’s success in that they bring perspectives of their members and constituents to inform content development. Also, they are vital in supporting outreach by sending targeted information via SMS and WhatsApp to their networks.
While the lockdown has slowly been lifted, the economic consequences of the pandemic can still be felt by micro, small, and medium enterprises across Rwanda. These key takeaways will continue to inform the content and promotional strategy for SME Response Clinic as the platform continues to provide information and resources for entrepreneurs in Rwanda coming to terms with the new normal.