Beyond Social Imperatives – Unveiling business case for women agents in BCNMs

With the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grameen Foundation India implemented BCNM Experiment and Demonstrating Scale (BEADS) project during 2021 – 23. The endline evaluation of the project was conducted between Dec 2022 and Mar 2023 by surveying 433 BC agents and 434 customers. The survey was conducted across seven states from six partner financial service providers in India.

One of the critical learning hypotheses for the project was to understand the business case for women agents. Our recent research offers compelling answers to this question, providing strong evidence on two fronts. Firstly, it emphasizes the value of investing in designing and developing products and services tailored specifically for female customers. Secondly, it advocates the need to hire more female agents by establishing a strong business case for them.