BACKGROUND
Excellent credit management and administration skills are fundamental for a sustainable and profitable microfinance organization. Yet many staff of MFBs and MFIs do not possess these core competencies. No wonder their organizations record highly unsustainable levels of non-performing loans. Some of the failures emerge at the product development and delivery stages, as products’ designs do not match the market needs and peculiarities. Other failures are a result of poor risks assessment practices that ultimately lead to disbursements to underserving borrowers. In some cases, where proper loan appraisals have been done and disbursements made in line with best global practices, delinquencies still occur because of a poor loan monitoring and management culture.

This program is designed to equip MFI staff at all levels – credit officers, branch managers, credit risks managers, head office managers – with the skills required to develop and sustain excellent credit portfolios with high performing and profitable loans.

PROGRAM OUTCOMES
• Realign your institution’s credit policy with Post COVID realities
• Equip your staff with the key credit skills required to compete profitably within the industry
• Familiarize your staff with global trends in microfinance credit portfolio management
• Provide insight into how product design and delivery impact product success
• Advance international best practices for microfinance products delivery in the digital age
• Introduce international standards of risk-based loan appraisal methods
• Propose a proactive approach to delinquency management
• Equip your staff to improve your loan quality and consequently the overall performance of your institution

TARGET AUDIENCE
• Donors
• Microfinance Practitioners
• Development Finance Specialists
• Financial Inclusion Specialists
• Ministry of Finance Officials
• Developmental Agencies Staff
• Rural Finance Specialists

COURSE CONTENT
Module 1 – Components of a Good Credit Policy
An MFB’s credit policy must contain strategies for effective credit administration that would guide staff’s actions especially in this post-COVID era. This module introduces participants to the components of a good credit policy

Module 2 – Identifying and On-boarding Good Credit Customers
The standards for on-boarding credit customers differ significantly from those demanded from non-borrowing customers. This module teaches participants those standards and helps them to see how they impact portfolio quality.

Module 3 – Profitable Credit Products Development and Delivery
Product design and delivery methods can destroy a credit product ab initio. This module discusses how to ensure that product design contributes to product success instead of frustrating the MFB’s efforts, and product delivery strategies align with Post COVID lessons.

Module 4 – Best Practices in Microloans Appraisal
This module examines best practices in microloans appraisal. What are the steps? What can be compromised? What is non-negotiable?

Module 5 – Pre-Disbursement Risks Assessment and Management
How can loan delinquency be proactively prevented? What should credit officers and managers look out for? What are the red flags and warning signals? This module provides answers that would lead to effective pre-disbursement risks assessment and avoidance.

Module 6 – Effective Post-Disbursement Loan Management Strategies
Many credit officers do not have effective loan management skills, and few even see the need to follow up customers after disbursement. They just move on to new customers and only call old ones when repayment is due. This attitude results in many delinquencies; therefore, this module will teach participants how to manage loans after disbursement.

Module 7 – Good Back Office Credit Management Practices
Support units like customer service, IT, funds transfer, risks management all play significant roles in effective credit administration. This module discusses best global practices for the back-office units

Module 8 – Delinquency Management
Despite our best efforts, a few credits may still go bad due to circumstances beyond our control. This module discusses how to manage delinquencies and recover bad loans

Module 9 – Action Planning
Participants would be guided on how to develop action plans for immediately using the lessons from their training at their desks.

Class Exercises and Practice Sessions
The program will include sessions where participants would practise some of the concepts discussed. This would be done for modules like product design and loan appraisal through well thought-out class exercises.

Case Studies and Break-out Sessions
Case studies have proven very effective for adult learning. The program therefore includes a case study that illustrates the topics discussed in the program and helps participants learn how to manage the situations in real life.

PROGRAM COST
N200,000 for local delegates and $750 for international delegates. Discounts available for three or more delegates from the same organization.

CONTACT
For further details please contact us @ info@microfinanceassociation.org; ade@microfinanceassociation.org or ololade@microfinanceassociation.org