Urban Field Visit - The Cosmopolitan Microfinance

After spending a week in Yehu's headquarters, I knew it was time to get out into the field and see what Yehu was really doing. I learned from my experiences in March with Grameen Bank and BRAC in Bangladesh, that the best way to find out how to best serve microfinance customers was to see them in their environment. So, Mel and I went to one of Yehu's 'urban' branches, Kusani. I met with 2 Credit Officers, which are the main point of contact for Yehu's clients. I asked them questions about their job, challenges, opportunities and customer needs. They provided a lot of insight that was starting to shape my thoughts about the marketing for Yehu. Next, we went with a third credit officer to attend her 'center meetings', where I would see how her weekly/biweekly meetings with groups of her clients are carried out and get the opportunity for the one on one interviews that were integral to my plan successfully meeting the needs of Yehu's clients.

Typically in the villages, the center meetings are in a central part of the village, or at someone's home. But because we were in the city, the center meeting was at a local restaurant/nighttime hangout spot. When we arrived, there were about 6 other center meetings being conducted, all by different microfinance institutions. This is quite different from what I am used to in the villages. These clients have choices in where they get thier business funding, and not just 2 choices, but 4 or 5 choices. It was exciting to see that microfinance was doing so well in Kenya, because I am of the belief that the more choices that people have for services, the better the services will probably be.

During the 3 center meetings we attended, I was able to interview 5 borrowers, including 2 men (microfinance is typically targeted toward women, so these were the first male borrowers I had ever interviewed) and have some group dialogue with one of the centers. The differences between the rural and urban borrowers became more and more clear during these interviews. The wants of the borrowers were typically lower interest rates and the products/services that the other microfinance institutions were offering. These were some pretty savvy borrowers. However, the bright spot in the middle of all of the other MFIs center meetings was that when I asked the borrowers why they continued with Yehu when other MFIs were offering better interest and more products, they said that it was the relationship and the ease of banking with Yehu that made them stay. I asked if they would leave Yehu if they needed the other products, and they all simply said no. They wouldn't trade the service that Yehu offered for the lower interest or diverse products. That type of loyalty was going to make my job much easier!!!

After meeting with all of the centers, we headed off to the village to get ready for the next day's round of center meetings and interviews - village-style.

Finding 'Kenyan' fabrics in Kenya? Impossible!

After the first week of wearing dresses that I had custom made in Ghana during my last internship the month before, I thought it would be nice to have some dresses made in Kenya while I was here. Since I didn't want to take any chances on getting a slow tailor that wouldn't get my dresses made in time, I asked "Mama Rose", the adminstrative officer at Yehu that kept telling me all week that I looked so "smart" in my dresses (I quickly learned that she did not at all think I looked like a nerdy librarian, but that being 'smart' is the Kenyan way of saying that she liked my outfit). Mama Rose assured me that she had a tailor that would be able to get my dresses turned around for me before I left, but that I needed to get the fabric before he took my measurements. So this weekend, I planned to head off to the market with Mel and another Yehu employee to find the perfect Kenyan fabrics.


The market was abuzz on Saturday morning with all types of shops and vendors and customers rushing to get what they needed before lunchtime. We walked around the fabrics markets for about an hour, but everything looked like something I would pick up in India (which I already have 5 outfits from there when my luggage was lost 3 years ago), a burka, or something I could get at a fabric store in the US. It wasn't until I showed them a brightly flowered print and kept saying 'I want something Kenyan' that they realized I wanted kanga fabric. Typically, kangas are used to wrap around like a skirt or to wrap around a mama's torso to tow her little one on her back, but they come in the most interesting and fun designs that I wanted a dress made from them. After a painstaking deliberation and negotiation, I finally decided on 2 kangas at about 300 shillings each (less than $4) and we were on our way back home. Next week, I will be taking them to the tailor to see what amazing dresses he can design from these 'Kenyan' fabrics.

My first week at Yehu - by the numbers

View from Yehu Conference Room

10 Matatu rides (with only 1 that nearly put me in traction from the potholes in the road)
10 mad dashes to the Matatu stop
4 leisurely walks home (including one that included a detour to the beach for a beautiful sunset)
13 new friends at Yehu
7 manuals and materials reviewed
3 meetings with the CEO
24 opportunities identified that will be included in my plan
5 cups of Milo (my favorite ovaltine/cocoa drink that will make me a “future champion”, or so says the packaging)
4 new Kenyan dishes, which included beans and rice, chapati, ugali, beef stew
3 desk assignments:

1. In a plastic chair on the side of the other intern‘s desk
2. In the same plastic chair across from the marketing officer at his desk; and
3. Lastly, the conference table in the top floor conference room (the final one is my favorite, despite the scratching, thrashing alligator that I swear resides on the roof, we have a beautiful view of the water)

1 Friday night out after work which included the movie “Knight and Day” and popcorn at the local cinema and a ride home on a boda boda motorbike taxi.

Arrival and first couple of days in Kenya

I arrived in Mombasa, Kenya on Saturday morning, July 17. This was after leaving Accra, Ghana (after a month-long internship with Global Giving) on July 16 at 9pm. Unfortunately, with the time difference, this basically meant was that it was a red eye without any sleep, so I arrived with the proverbial red eyes. But my fellow intern and roommate, Melinda was there to pick me up and we were off to my new accommodations for the next 3 weeks.

When we arrived, it was an awesome 3 bedroom apartment, fully equipped with a kitchen and 2 full bathrooms (with hot water even!). I know doesn’t sound like the lap of luxury, but after sleeping in a new place almost every night for a month, including one night on the side of the road on a sheet over gravel during the worst bus ride from Burkina Faso to Mali during my previous internship, this felt like the Ritz Carlton.

I had time to drop my bag, change my clothes and we were off to Old Town Mombasa, which included some really neat native souvenir shops and the beach at Fort Jesus (a fort built on the coast in the shape of Jesus by the Portuguese). The pictures don’t do it justice, this was one of the most breath-taking ocean views I had ever seen!

Unfortunately, I was quickly losing steam, so we headed back to the apartment in a tuktuk (basically a motorcycle cab). We decided to watch a movie and after about 10 minutes, I had fallen asleep and was starting to scare my new roommate with my sudden jerks awake, so I put myself to bed After 16 hours of blissful, uninterrupted sleep, I awoke the next morning at 10am., and spent the whole day relaxing, catching up on emails, reading, and getting ready for the next day - my first day at Yehu Microfinance. I was so excited!

My first day at Yehu Microfinance

After showering and having breakfast, Mel and I rushed the mile out to the Matatu stop (15 passenger vans that transport non-vehicle owning Kenyans around the city for about 40 cents a ride). Although it was a pleasant enough ride, I forgot how disorienting a new city can be. I barely kept up with Mel as she navigated through the crowds and traffic-filled streets to the head office of Yehu.

After I arrived, I was introduced to the staff and had a meeting with Yehu’s CEO, Adet Kachi. We decided on the game plan for the next three weeks since so much information needed to be gathered in a short period of time. After that, I was handed the first of many materials I would be reading over the next three weeks and dove into learning everything I can about Yehu, specifically about their marketing and new product development. My purpose is to make a plan that will help them attain their main goal of self-sustainability. This will ensure they will be able to continue helping the rural women in Kenya become economically independent without worrying about where the funding will come from each year. I realized quickly that this is going to be a challenging, but very rewarding internship.

Why I really went to Kenya

I could talk about the things I learned, or the hands-on experience I was able to get, or the opportunity to see and understand how everything works firsthand. All of that is important, but this video nicely sums up my real reason for spending the summer in Mombasa.

The Frontlines

I’d like to tell you about the one thing I felt I needed to do while I was there. It's a big one for me - close to my heart. If I could go back and do Kenya all over again from the beginning, I would insist upon repeating this experience as much as possible.  I wouldn't wait until so close to the end.

But I did, and when all is said and done, I still got to do it.

That's enough for me.

I attended some center meetings in Yehu's Kisauni Branch. For those of you that don't speak microfinance (or maybe you just don't speak Yehu), these are the meetings where clients gather in their groups to make payments, apply for new loans, or discuss anything of importance to the group. This is the very base level of the organization, where all the most important exchanges take place. This is where the real people are.

These are the frontlines.

One thing that makes Yehu unique is its focus on the rural poor, and by extension, the small size of their loans relative to other Microfinance Institutions. It really has no competition in this arena, because all other MFIs in the area are more focused on urban clients. Rural banking brings challenges: costs are higher, and it can be more difficult to reach and keep track of everyone. But Yehu is holding firm to its mission to serve the rural poor.

Given that mission, Kisauni is a unique branch for Yehu. It is actually located right outside of Mombasa, so many of Kisauni's clients are urban (or as Yehu likes to call it, "peri-urban").  This meeting was easier for us to visit, because a few of the clients spoke English and could keep us up on what was happening.

At Yehu, their ladies organize themselves into groups of five. Once a group is formed, they can apply for loans. If anyone in the group ever misses a payment, the rest of the group is responsible for picking it up. No one in the group can apply for a new loan until all missed payments are taken care of. This has a lot of advantages - it keeps the default rate very low, it is self-reinforcing because the ladies will keep track of each other and will feel the pressure of being responsible for their own payments, and it encourages them to only find responsible people to be in their group. The downside is that this concept probably sounds okay when you're told in the beginning, but when you're waiting several months to apply for a loan because of a delinquent group member and you have to pay off her loan, it can be very frustrating.

At this particular meeting, two groups paid off loans of delinquent group members that had been in arrears since January, so they could finally move forward with their plans. It was an exciting day. I particularly enjoyed seeing these strong women speaking out and voicing their opinions - even if it was in frustration. I could see the progression, from those who were waiting to apply for their first loan to those who were paying off their third loan. They've all been enabled and empowered by the opportunities Yehu has offered them. I imagine most of them were not always so confident as they are now.

We talked to some of the ladies afterward. This is Alice and Purity. Alice sells charcoal, Purity will use her first loan to open a fruit stand.

They expressed a very sincere interest in learning about properly running a business and managing their finances. They know the loan is a blessing and they really want to do everything right. It spoke to a deep desire I've had to conduct training for that very thing. Not only would the ladies benefit, but Yehu as well. I had hoped to do some of this training while I was here, but there is just so much to be done for this bank. It would take a completely separate internship - or more - to reach out to that need.

We also talked to Carol, who has been with Yehu for three years and was about to apply for her third (and biggest yet) loan. She sells secondhand clothing and has high hopes for growing her business. I could see the wisdom and confidence in her persona at having been around the microfinance block and learned some hard lessons along the way. I could see how she has grown.

Some of the ladies brought children to the meeting to distract me for just a few minutes. As usual, I was smitten. What new opportunities will these children receive, either from the additional income their mothers bring into their businesses, or from one of Yehu’s education-based loans?  It's exciting to think about.



Overall, the center meeting was a very powerful experience for me. In one fell swoop, it allowed me to connect everything together and gave my work more meaning and purpose than I could find anywhere else. This is something that all interns should be required to do within their first week of arriving in Mombasa. I really believe it could shape one’s entire experience.

Someone recently asked me what my #1 favorite thing about Kenya was. Hands down, it’s getting out to the villages and meeting the people. I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything in the world.