Informal Credit Scoring for Microfinance Institutions in Tanzania

First Access is a for-profit social enterprise founded in New York City in 2011. The company is creating an instant SMS-based risk scoring system for microloans, which it hopes will reduce the cost of lending and borrowing capital in informal markets around the world. First Access is focused on using mobile records to promote financial inclusion for people in rural areas, those who have few physical assets to use as collateral, and everyone who lacks personal financial records to prove what they own and what they can earn.

A team of four SIPA students, including one of the company’s cofounders, spent seven months on the company’s Tanzania launch strategy. The team met with local stakeholders, including clients, suppliers, potential staff, regulatory authorities, lawyers and a member of the First Access Advisory Board. In addition to concrete steps like securing office space in Tanzania’s first ‘tech incubator’ and getting new clients on board for the pilot, the team gathered a great deal of strategic information to complete a series of deliverables during the following months.