Expanding Access to Finance through Mobile Payments: Lessons Learned for MFI-Mobile Network Operator Partnerships

This case study shares lessons learned from FINCA Tanzania’s partnership with Vodacom. It seeks to provide valuable information for MFIs seeking to create partnerships with mobile network operators to introduce digital finance for their customers. The partnership between FINCA and Vodacom allowed customers to use Vodacom’s mobile wallet platform, M-Pesa, to make transactions to FINCA accounts for both loan installments and savings. The arrangement also allowed FINCA customers to transact directly from their e-wallet, saving them significant travel and other transactional costs typical of microfinance operations.