Product Development for Microfinance Institutions

This course on Product Development for Microfinance is one of the four courses in the Operational Management Curriculum. The microfinance industry needs to develop increasingly flexible and responsive financial products. In response to this growing need, a number of donors, practitioner networks and projects are in the process of developing operational tools that practitioners can use to design demand-responsive microfinance products. This four to six day course covers the process of developing a new product as well as the impact of introducing new products on the MFI. The course uses trainer instructions, overheads, handouts, case studies and reference materials to help participants learn about:

• Development of a microfinance product;
• Systematic product development;
• Market research;
• Conceptualizing and designing the product;
• Costing;
• Pricing;
• Pilot testing and roll out.