Building Financial Inclusion for Low Income Women: The Role of Corporate Partnerships
The SIPA Capstone team developed models of corporate partnerships in order to expand the scale of Women’s World Banking (WWB), a leading nongovernmental organization (NGO) dedicated to the financial inclusion of low income women in the developing world. The team developed a set of actionable models for corporate partnerships that would allow WWB, as advisors to financial institutions and the link to beneficiaries, to expand upon its traditional philanthropy based relationship with funders and move toward a funding strategy that includes strategic partnerships with corporates. The models, based on the concept of Shared Value, also sought to further WWB’s goal of increasing the number of beneficiaries served and entering new markets. The two models approached market development and supply chain efficiency through two different sectors – Technology and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPGs). The report’s conclusions drew on the qualities of existing corporate partnerships, noting WWB’s value proposition to corporations as including a step-by-step implementation guide for moving forward.
Among the recommendations put forth in the final report were:
- Engaging in pre-partnership steps including understanding WWB’s value proposition, estimating internal capacity, and gathering data on member network and clients served;
- Vetting potential partnerships to make sure interests and values of each partner align and that the members of WWB’s network are comfortable moving forward; and
- During the partnership, being ready to serve as the architect of a partnership, establishing clear and open channels of communication with internal and external stakeholders, and continuing to augment strategic partnerships with philanthropic support.