Head of EduFinance Shares Learnings with Industry Leaders at MicroFinance Summit 2020
Head of EduFinance, Andrew McCusker, presented during the Microfinance Summit 2020, 6th-7th February, in Rome. The conference brought together socially-focussed microfinance (MFI), microinsure and fintech institutions from across the globe to share knowledge, experience and learnings. Case studies, research, innovations, technological trends and advancements were presented and discussed. Andrew spoke as a panellist during the ‘Competence Between Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Development' session where successful case studies were presented to conference attendees. Andrew discussed ‘Education Lending for MFIs: How to Achieve Profitability and Impact’ where he answered three main questions:
- How can MFIs access the US$24bn Education Finance Market?
- How can MFIs Profitably Lend to the Education Sector?
- What are the tools to Help MFIs Grow a Profitable EduFinance Portfolio?
He also presented 'Three Things we Have Learned About Lending to the Education Sector':
- EduFinance lending can be profitable, but careful product design is important. Our financial institution partners invest 15.5% of their portfolios in EduFinance which have been shown to be lower risk than other products.
- Demand for EduFinance is growing quickly, due to fertility rates, migration and parent preferences. We need to add 10 million new school seats each year to cover the increase if current trends continue.
- The social returns on education lending are massive and investors are interested. 58% of children are not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading - addressing this learning crisis has multiplier effects across economies and societies.
Andrew explained our Theory of Change and gained interest from financial institutions and investors in the room from Africa, South Asia, Central and Western Asia.
EduFinance is committed to sharing our own learnings as well as learning from others within the microfinance sector in order to advance our collective goal of increasing financial inclusion for social impact. When we collaborate with and learn from others, we create synergies that everyone involved can benefit from. We hope to build the effectiveness of our business model for greater impact.