DIG has extensive experience conducting market assessments and feasibility studies throughout the world. Our world-renowned experts are well-versed in the design of the questionnaires, training enumerators, conducting interviews and focus groups, providing institutional training and capacity building, and data analysis. Highlights of DIG’s experience in this realm include:
Detailed descriptions of these projects are located below.
Action Plan for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem (2006): UNESCO is working to assist households in the Old City to obtain financing to improve individual homes as infrastructure has historically belonged to individual families. This project is groundbreaking as it is the first time UNESCO is expanding beyond restoration to bring a development approach to its preservation activities. For that reason, the United Nations agency hired DIG to design a housing microfinance program to assist these households within the context of the Old City’s distinctive heritage.
Financing Mechanisms for the “Cities without Slums” Program in Morocco (2006): As part of the World Bank’s housing sector adjustment loan to the government of Morocco (GOM), the GOM is providing financial literacy education for homeownership to families in the Cities without Slums program. DIG worked with the GOM to design a program linking commercial banks to potential clients living in slums through credit education and loan origination support. The program prepared some 44,000 households for transitioning out of slum-dwellings to becoming homeowners. As part of the in-country assessment, DIG worked closely with relevant ministry staff, commercial banks, MFIs, and local NGOs to analyze obstacles to lending and to identify potential mechanisms for improving the performance of a related loan guarantee facility. Ultimately, DIG devised a two-year plan to: (1) assist the GOM in building stronger, more effective links between commercial banks, the Department of Social Housing at the Ministry of Habitat, and target slum households to meet the demand for financing through the guarantee facility; and (2) ensure adequate understanding of housing finance on the part of potential borrowers.
Syria Microfinance Environment and Savings Bank Assessment (2006): DIG, in collaboration with DAI, conducted a diagnostic assessment of the financial sector and the overall business and policy environment pertaining to microfinance in Syria for CGAP. The study included an in-depth feasibility assessment of the Syrian Savings Bank’s potential role in the microfinance market. The team compiled a comprehensive report based on field and desk research and provided recommendations on how to improve the financial, business, and policy issues affecting microfinance. During the mission, the team met with key financial sector policy makers and regulators to make suggestions for regulatory changes needed to create an enabling environment for the emerging microfinance market. The mission also included meetings with MFIs and other institutions engaged in financial service delivery to determine the current and potential future supply and demand, and the potential gap between them.
Yemen Microfinance Market Assessment (2005): DIG conducted an assessment to review three potential options for the German government-owned development bank KfW to invest in the microfinance sector in Yemen, and recommended the most appropriate course of action for KfW. Options reviewed included: (1) investing in the Social Fund for Development, an apex organization mandated by the government to support the microfinance industry in Yemen; (2) investing in a commercial bank interested in entering the microfinance market through a “downscaling” initiative; and (3) investing directly in a promising microfinance institution.
Market Study and Analysis for Start-up of Microfinance SME Bank in Afghanistan (2005): DIG conducted a feasibility study and market survey for a group of private investors to determine the potential for establishing a commercial, microfinance bank in Afghanistan. Through in-depth, in-country assessments, DIG analyzed the potential demand for microfinance services, as well as the repayment capacities of low-income employees and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). As part of this study, DIG surveyed approximately 70 SMEs and 1,000 micro-entrepreneurs, and examined the local regulatory framework for licensing and operation of an MSME bank in Afghanistan. Following analysis of survey data, DIG produced an in-depth market assessment report and proposed a bank implementation strategy based on the existing demand and supply of microfinance services.