ACCION
Capability building program for women MSME
Xeno Co-lab led the study for the India market for Accion (a non-profit pioneer in inclusive fin-tech and impact investing), who wanted to develop a women-focused capacity building program. The program aims to empower women entrepreneurs by helping them hone their business skills; increase their business capacities; help them identify concrete ways to increase their revenues, and to provide a consistent support system.
Accion aimed to impact at least 34,000 women in Colombia, México, Ecuador, Nigeria, and India; and they approached us to conduct qualitative research in order validate the program concept, map the desirability of the program components and delineate their aspired formats of content delivery.
Approach
We conducted qualitative in depth interviews with women across diverse tier 1 and 2 cities of India to present a holistic understanding of the landscape. These were small business owners who had either started their own business or are a part of the family owned business. We spoke to women across diverse industries such as - clothing, jewelry, accessories, beauty parlor, tailoring etc in order to document their educational needs at various stages of their business and also understand their business context.
“After my daughter was born I thought I should have my own identity. Time goes by really fast and I want to save up (for her future).”
Woman Entrepreneur
Mumbai
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Deliverable
The research report generated from this study showcased the behaviors and experiences of women entrepreneurs around their business and financial management, which were translated into actionable insights. Simultaneously, the research also tested the program concept, highlighting the key gaps and opportunity areas for improvements to make it relevant for the Indian women entrepreneurs.
Impact
For Accion this report presented a look into the intrinsic drivers, aspirations and multiple barriers faced by women entrepreneurs. The report also had interwoven India specific stories of how family dynamics, gender differences and exposure to technology impact their business journey.
In documenting the entrepreneurs’ perceptions of the existing program content and expectations of an ideal mentor; we highlighted the modules with the highest resonance. We also mapped the stages of the business and made recommendations on which touch points the client could intervene at to maximize their impact.
Project Team
Project Manager
Research Lead
UX Researcher
