pilot preview
Critical feedback wanted. If you are involved in microfinance we want to know what you think on the interface design and initial features for the pilot.
Mambu is an online software application for microfinance organizations.
It is an easy way for organizations to manage their loans and clients and keep an eye on their business.
A pilot release is planned for Summer 2010 and this is a preview of what will be included. There are many more exciting ideas for the future, but this is the start.
Capabilities
The pilot release of Mambu is targeted for small organizations providing microcredit services. It will allow them to create loan products and loan accounts and associate them with group or individual clients. Organization staff can approve or reject new loan applications, enter and track repayment information for active accounts. Mambu lets MFIs manage their clients, accounts and their associations with staff and branches. Using Mambu MFIs can monitor the activity happening throughout the organization: loans being requested, profiles being updated, repayments being made and the social aspects such as changes in client conditions or behaviours. For the bigger picture, Mambu visualizes portfolio changes over time, allows a view on accounts at risk and gather intelligence such as comparing the performance of loan products.
Software as a Service
Mambu will be released as an online software application. Organizations will access the software on the Internet using a web browser. Each organization will have a private, secure area with all their information which they can export at anytime. Although some organizations in rural areas may have challenges with internet access there are many benefits of having the software online on demand: Organizations won't need to install anything or manage the technology behind the application. They do not need to worry about maintenance, backups, security and upgrades. By having their information online, organizations will be able to access it from anywhere on any device. Instead of buying an expensive licence for the application, organizations will subscribe to the service, reducing up-front costs and scaling with the organization as it grows.
Future Plans
Over time, Mambu will evolve into more than just a portfolio management software: It will provide the first integrated management information system for microfinance organizations. In addition to providing more products such as savings, Mambu will also help organizations to manage their accounting and funding and let their supporters have a view into the activity and progress of the organization. We are planning to integrate Mambu with other services like Kiva.org to help MFI obtain additional funding for their clients and to create one environment for all their needs. With this platform in place, there are many exciting opportunities for future development which will help enabling microfinance around the world: Access to the service via smartphones or enabling customers of MFIs to benefit from SMS services are just two of the many we want to explore.
Feature Highlights
Lets have a look at just a few of the features presented in the prototype. We want to make sure they are easy to understand and get your feedback on them.
Flexible Loans are at the heart of Mambu. In order to be able to serve different microfinance organizations around the world, we’ve given as much flexibility in creating loans as possible. This is an area we’re particularly interested in receiving your feedback. Does Mambu meet your needs for creating and managing loans?
Loans can be created as either part of a loan product - which defines the constraints such as the duration, amount and schedule of a loan - or as custom loans, defining different parameters for each loan. Basic fees such as opening and late fees can also be customized for different accounts.
Clients and Group management lets the microfinance organization easily keep track of the customers. The focus in the prototype is on flexibility: It will allow organization to enter any information in addition to standard fields like contact information.
Clients and groups can be associated with credit officers for notification, accounting and tracking purposes.
Account Reviews can be performed across offices since Mambu is avaiable online. For example: A credit officer in one branch can create a loan application and easily request a review from the head office in a different city. An executive could in turn request more client information from the credit officer located somewhere else in the country. Mambu would be the central spot for all the client and account information which can be accessed from anywhere. Very simple permission management will ensure that only certain organization members who are allowed to modify accounts can do so.
Capturing Repayments can be done in Mambu with different modes of payment including cash and receipt. Since Mambu is accessible online, this can let organizations greatly cut down on time travelling or mailing out repayment receipts back to offices or branches. Mambu will capture who entered the repayment so that staff could later confirm all accounts are in order.
In the near future it will also be possible to enter repayment information through SMS to further reduce the effort spent on this task right now.
Intelligence and reporting in Mambu is based on a simple principle: If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Mambu records information about the MFI activity over time, allowing organizations to monitor performance of loan products, branches, accounts and so forth. By analyzing what's working and what’s not, organizations will be able to take better informed actions on their way to achieve self-sustainbility and develop a viable business so they can continue to serve their clients.
Easy Information Access to any client, group, account, action or intelligence is always available through the quick-access bar on the screen. One of the unique capabilities is to be able to get answers to questions such as ‘which clients have missed repayments in the last month?’ or ‘which groups have outstanding repayment due?’.
The pilot will have a small set of these intelligence questions with many more planned. We are eager to get your feedback as to which questions (and answers) you consider most relevant to microfinance organizations.
Activity Feeds keep organizations up to date about what’s happening with their clients, accounts, branch or organization. Being able to see what happened in the organization, at a branch or on an account, the organization can decide if there’s any actions necessary.
Different activity is logged such as when new loan applications are created, when they have been approved or when new clients and groups have been modified. Perhaps even more importantly, MFIs can see when different staff members leave comments about any clients or accounts: This will allow organizations to capture to social processes behind their microfinance activitiy.
Activity is available both about the entire organization as well as specific clients or accounts.
Notifications are Mambu's way to capture the business processes involved in a microfinance organization and will prompt staff to take action upon certain events. For instance, a branch manager, while reviewing accounts, might notice that a clients needs to be visited and could send a notification to the assigned credit officer. With Mambu being accessible from anywhere, organizations could both capture their existing business proccess and create even better ones.
Mambu itself would also notify its users about certain events, such as when a requested report has been generated.