91% of Abler Nordic clients surveyed say their lives have improved: 60 Decibels 2023
Abler Nordic is a proud supporter of the second 60 Decibels Microfinance Index, after helping establish the global survey as a founding partner in 2022. This year’s index collected more than one million unique data points across 114 financial service providers, who collectively serve over 84 million clients in 32 countries.
Over 2000 of Abler Nordic’s end clients from eight of our portfolio companies in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia participated in the 2023 index. The aim was to gain an in-depth understanding of how clients’ lives have changed because of financial services, reflecting our firm belief that our end-clients are the best judges of improvements in their own lives.
The 60 Decibels team conducted anonymous local language telephone interviews with a random sample of 275 clients from each company across 22 indicators in six dimensions: Access, Business Impact, Household Impact, Client Protection, Resilience and Agency.
Positive outcomes exceeding industry benchmarks
The findings across Abler Nordic’s portfolio underscore positive social and economic outcomes for clients, with Abler Nordic outperforming the industry benchmarks for 18 of the 21 indicators.
Key findings across our portfolio include:
of clients say their lives have improved
of clients reported their income has increased
of clients say their ability to manage their finances has improved
of clients report their savings have increased
of clients say spending on their children’s education has increased
Increasing access for the unbanked
92% of Abler Nordic’s overall end clients are women and over 70 % live in rural areas. Women in rural areas in particular face disadvantages in accessing financial services due to—amongst many factors—gendered social norms, which limit women’s freedom within households and communities.
of clients surveyed in the index were accessing a loan for the first time
said they could not easily find a good alternative to their financial service provider
You can check out the global 60 Decibels report here
Note that in our portfolio summary above, we have combined the clients who answered 'very much' and 'slightly' improved/increased (approved by 60 Decibels) as we view these both as reflecting a positive impact on clients' lives.
