Kokoévi Sossouvi's blog

Photo: Mercy Corps Haiti

Over the last year, Mercy Corps Haiti has been working closely with mobile network operator Voilà and commercial bank Unibank to roll out mobile money in our emergency response programs via a service called T-Cash, powered by solution provider MoreMagic.

To tell the story of this amazing partnership and introduce you to our program participants, we’ve launched Diary of a Mobile Money Program, a series of three electronic books. The first e-book, From Planning Phase to Pilot Launch, is now available. Stay tuned for the second e-book, which will be released in June.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading about reading our experience in the field.

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Jokebed Auguste. Photo: Kokoévi Sossouvi/Mercy Corps

Jokebed Auguste, 31, and Benita Bellevue, 29, walk side by side as we make our way to the Market St. Pierre, a local convenience store in Mirebalais. Here in Haiti's Central Plateau, they are team leaders in Mercy Corps' cash-for-work program, which provides temporary jobs to locals who use the wages to meet their families' post-earthquake needs.

For a while now, I’ve been telling Jokebed and Benita about the "mobile wallet" (or bous selilè in Creole). They understand that it means something like being able to receive and store money on a phone, making purchases with a phone, transferring money to other people, and still keeping some of the money on the phone if desired.

Actually, they have already received money on their phones before. Three weeks ago, they received their cash-for-work payment using their mobile phones. Before that, I held a training for them and other community members, which showed them in pictures all the things they would be able to do with their "mobile wallet." But I can tell they are still a little bit dubious.

We enter the supermarket, and the purpose of the day is explained once more. We are here with our mobile network operator and bank partners to do a test of mobile wallet functionalities at a merchant location.

We'll test four functionalities:

• Purchase of goods
• Peer to peer money transfer
• Cash-out
• Cash-in

Benita Bellevue. Photo: Kokoévi Sossouvi/Mercy Corps

Jokebed and Benita activate the wallet functionality on their phones, and I transfer 50 gourdes (about US$1.25) to them to run the test with.

As we go through the various scenarios, the atmosphere in the store is incredibly lighthearted. Making purchases requires a series of commands on the phone which are very similar to those of the cash-out that Jokebed and Benita are already familiar with from the day when they received their payments by mobile phone. So they go through with use-case with nonchalance, showing a level of confidence that impresses me.

When we try the peer-to-peer money transfers, it creates the playful dynamic of setting off simultaneous messaging on both the sender and receiver's phone. Their unconventional ringtones made everyone laugh.

The cash-out process — where Jokebed and Benita transfer funds to the cashier and he gives them cash from the register — goes off without a hitch. The system works and it’s easy to navigate.

The cash-in process — when Benita gives the cashier money that he will add to her phone — doesn't go as smoothly. The cashier makes a mistake in keying Benita’s phone number and the money never arrives on her phone. The bank can resolve this through a number of behind-the-scene adjustments. This is why we're testing this process — to work out both human and technological errors.

Despite this glitch, the ladies are still enthusiastic about the service. They can already see the future.

Benita tests out her mobile wallet. Photo: Fabiola Coupet/Mercy Corps

Jokebed says “I would pay for everything with the wallet: my son’s school fees, the beauty parlor, buying clothes. It would be a great way to pay a taxi, various goods and services while traveling from place to place. I’d be less worried about loosing my m-wallet than my usual wallet. When your wallet is gone, there’s no way to get the money back, when the m-wallet is gone you can call the customer service center to block your phone.”

The next day is payment day. Jokebed and Benita will receive their last cash-for-work payment. The project that they were hired to do — 30 days of work to rehabilitate a road — is complete. In line outside the bank, with their teams, they’re both still talking about the mobile wallet test and how they see mobile banking as a safe way to store money.

Benita says, “I like the ability to have the money virtually on the mobile wallet and then make it liquid when you need it.”

“I also like the cash-in option as well," says Jokebed. "Haitians are often making small informal payments to one another but the money is spent quickly. With the mobile wallet cash-in option, there may be less of a tendency to spend that money.”

Soon our mobile money partners — Voilà and the Haitian bank Unibank — will release their mobile wallet service commercially. The product is called T-Cash (for telephone cash). I think I know who the first two users of the service in Mirebalais will be.

Benita (left) and Jokebed (right) try out the T-Cash mobile wallet in the field for the first time ever. Photo: Fabiola Coupet/Mercy Corps

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Over the weekend of October 16, the third annual “Artisans en Fête” (Artisans Festival) took place in Port-au-Prince. The two-day fair attracted more than 200 artisans that came from all corners of Haiti, presenting wares such as arts, crafts, regional beverages, foods and clothing. The display of colorful products was met by the friendly laid-back feel of a weekend family event. There was something for everyone.

I arrived on site early on Sunday to meet up with Patrick Dessources, Business Analyst at Zafèn, one of our many local partner organizations in Haiti. Patrick and I had planned a long day of meetings with the dynamic owners from a number of Haitian small and medium enterprises. We walked from booth to booth talking to some of the most amazing, friendly and creative people we could imagine.

And then we arrived at Madeleine Anglade’s booth. First of all, the bright and cheerful posters really caught our eye. Then there was a big ice cream freezer box in the back. But right before us were a set of mini-baskets filled with grains including millet, oats, peanuts and sesame seeds — all natural products of Haiti. This small display represented the main ingredients of Yo cereal bars.

Yo's Madelaine Anglade and Zafèn's Patrick Dessources. Photo: courtesy of Nick Lesher

Madeleine, a Québécoise woman who has been living in Haiti for more than 25 years, explains to us that she’s been making Yo for a year now. The recipe uses only locally-produced cereals, sourced throughout the country from specialty locations. With Yo and the Caprice the ice cream brand, Madeleine has a business of 28 employees, located in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

Madeleine explained: “People try Yo, they all really like it [as we did too] but I can’t find a good distribution channel for it. I think the best way to retail Yo is through street vendors but I don’t know how to reach them. I work with a few but it’s hard to scale up. It’s a shame because there is easily 20 percent profit to be made for the vendors”.

Madeleine has also developed a school snack version of Yo to diversify her consumer base. In the street, a Yo cereal bar retails for 10 Haitian gourdes (about US$0.25).

“I don’t need a business loan just now, I’m OK with the production — I have the ice cream business supporting Yo," she says, "But what I need is a strong distribution strategy and support on my business model.”

Our partner Zafèn’s mission is not only to provide small and medium enterprises like Madeleine's with business loans, but also business development services and strategy advice. Patrick and Madelaine will meet again later this week to work out what can be done to help Yo.

We walk away chewing a Yo bar and feeling very energized. Working with businss at a time, little by little, Mercy Corps and Zafèn can harness the power of entrepreneurship to create employment and fully contribute to strengthening Haiti's emerging economy.

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For the past two weeks or so, I’ve been on the road between New York and Washington, DC, attending meetings, conferences and learning events, as well as spending time with our partners and key Mercy Corps staff.

As Mercy Corps Haiti's economic recovery program manager, one of my main areas of focus these last several months has been implementing a pilot program where we used mobile phones to get emergency funds into the hands of earthquake-affected families in Haiti's Central Plateau. We successfully completed this pilot in early September with our partners Trilogy International Partners/Voilà and Unibank. (The press release is available on our website here.)

That's when I hit the road — wanting to share our progress with other innovators working in the field and learn about their work.

A few events particularly stand out in my mind from this busy trip, like participating in the Mobile Tech Salon: Women and Mobile Phones in New York organized by MobileActive.org, a global network of people using mobile technology for social impact. I took much pride in “speed-geeking” (the same concept as speed-dating but discussing technology issues) about how we have helped create female mobile money pioneers through our cash-for-work program.

(From left to right) Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter; Mercy Corps President Nancy Lindborg; and Trilogy International Partners Chairman John Stanton at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City. Photo: courtesy of Clinton Global Initiative

Sitting at the FS Share Branchless Banking and Mobile Money Interventions presentations — a knowledge sharing event organized by Chemonics in their DC office — I was once more inspired by the potential of mobile banking technology to foster economic growth and financial inclusion in developing countries. I felt renewed confidence that our hard work to lay the foundation for mobile banking in Haiti is paving the way for better tomorrows for the people there.

The highlight of my trip remains, however, our featured commitment to action at the Clinton Global Initiative. Mercy Corps President Nancy Lindborg and Trilogy International Partners Chairman John Stanton presented our commitment, "Mobile Money: Financial Inclusion for Haiti's Recovery." John Stanton also took part in the panel discussion, next to such distinguished guests as Cherie Blair — Founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and former Queen’s Counsel — and Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation. (The webcast can be viewed here.)

Having now returned to Haiti, I am thrilled to rejoin my colleagues, some of the most dedicated development professionals one can find. We continue to industriously work on youth development and psychosocial support, water and sanitation in the camps, and initiating rural development in the provinces. We have so much more work to do, but we can be proud of the progress we've already made so far.

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Although I've sort of always known that one day I would come to work in Haiti, January 12 made me realize that the time was now.

I lost a dear friend of mine in the earthquake, to whom I had promised to come to Haiti. I had no choice but to keep my word and change the course of my life.

Nothing had ever made more sense to me than on March 4, when I moved to Haiti to take the position of Mercy Corps' Economic Recovery Program Manager. I wanted to come to Haiti to have an impact, not just be another aid worker. Equipped with a Master's degree in Chinese and Business and strong international experience in both the humanitarian and private sectors, I was looking for a role that would best suit my skills set. The need to do things differently and think outside the box attracted me to Mercy Corps, which has such a strong reputation for innovation.

Less than one percent of Haiti's small business owners are formally trained in their areas of operation. Photo: Karl Grobl for NetAid

Today, my work in Haiti touches many areas. The support of small and medium enterprises (SME) is particularly fascinating. Mercy Corps Haiti is in the process of developing a range of solutions to support this as-yet highly informal growth sector, which is nonetheless engine of Haiti's economy.

Because less than one percent of SME owners are formally trained in their areas of operation, we are planning vocational training support. Because access to credit is a strong impediment to growth, we are planning to set up an investment facility. Because the provision of business development services is lacking, we are planning to bring MicroMentor to Haiti. Because SME start-ups are highly neglected, we are planning partnering with other programs to set up business plan competitions, as well as training on writing and pitching skills.

But SME — which includes the Job creation program supported by our MPower initiative — is only one of the areas Mercy Corps is working on for Haiti's economic recovery and development. My team will keep you updated on our progress.

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One of Mercy Corps’ first interventions in Haiti was engaging in a partnership with Fonkoze, a leading Haitian microfinance institution that works with women. One program we decided to launch together is a "catastrophic micro-insurance" pilot program that's designed for Fonkoze clients who had taken up a small business loan.

Fonkoze’s Leogane Branch Director conducts a focus group with clients as part of the catastrophic micro-insurance pilot. Photo: courtesy of Fonkoze

Although none of their clients were actually insured prior to the earthquake, Fonkoze — with support from Mercy Corps — was able to assist them as if they were. Under this pilot program, Fonkoze clients in highly-affected earthquake areas are entitled to forgiveness of the balance of their existing loan as well as a compensatory cash payment of 5,000 HTG (US$128). In addition, they will be eligible for a new loan to restart a business — when they choose to do so.

Piloted in Leogane — the epicenter of the January 12 earthquake — this program has reached 598 women, although it was initially planned for 500. After the earthquake, most borrowers had no choice but to use their business loan to meet their immediate needs, spending what little they had left on food, burial costs and medicine. Many had lost their business altogether. Others lost inventory — as well as a number of key customers who had bought from them on credit — often with the catastrophic effect of leaving them bankrupt.

For many here in Haiti, survival is dependent upon support from friends and family members who suffered less severe losses. The pilot therefore had a decisive impact. In addition — as insurance uptake is still very low in Haiti in spite of the recurring cycle of natural disasters — the pilot goes a long way in showcasing the benefit of insurance in the future. To support payment of the 5,000 HTG compensation, Fonkoze was innovating in carrying out outreach banking using a van provided by their insurance partner, because across the country — and in Leogane in particular — Fonkoze lost a number of branches as well as key staff.

They listened to their customers, who stated that they'd be spending their cash payment on home repair, food, clothing and school fees for the children — in that order.

Fonkoze will be scaling up this pilot across the country, with additional support from the American Red Cross. To date, there remains limited uptake of new business loans as part of the pilot program. Most of the women feel they are not ready to start another business yet, because they are still healing from trauma. Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority say they are willing to pay for insurance in the future, despite the high competition between priority needs.

One thing they insist on, though, is that they rather pay the premium from their own pocket, as opposed to having it deducted from the loan. The reason for this, they say, is so as to protect the ‘soul’ of the loan, which is one lump sum that needs to stay whole and broken up only to support the business!

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Two Mercy Corps workers talk with 62-year-old Rosemarie Joseph in her makeshift tent at the Lycée Jean-Marie Vincent displacement camp in Port-au-Prince. Photo: Mercy Corps Haiti

I met 62-year-old Rosemarie Joseph at the Lycée Jean-Marie Vincent, a spontaneous camp for displaced families on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. Rosemarie resettled on the high school grounds with 80 other earthquake affected families with the six youngest of her eight children on January 25. Now they're living in a tiny tent made of a collection of personal and borrowed bed linens, because her house was severely damaged in the January earthquake.

Like many others, Rosemarie lost all her possessions in the quake, but she’s happy she and her family survived. Her oldest son is 36 and her youngest only nine years old. Her husband died a long time ago — she cannot quite recollect the year.

“We were never wealthy people," Rosemarie comments. "Before the quake, I used to run a small petty trading business selling bread, charcoal and little things that people would need. And with that, we could to get by, even if we didn’t always manage to eat more than one good meal a day. But now, we go hungry for days running. When we’re lucky enough to find something to eat, we have to borrow cooking utensils from another family in the camp, because we’ve lost everything.”

It only takes one glance around to see the level of destitution that is now Rosemarie’s everyday reality. As we sit together in what the place she must now call home, there are only torn pieces of cardboard for them to sleep on. There is one pillow, a small desk and a few empty plastic water bottles. The “tent” is exposed to the heavy sunshine and the rain. With rainy season on its way, it’s easy to imagine how much worse things will get.

Unlike others, Rosemarie has no family abroad who can send remittances to help her. The camp at Lycée Jean-Marie Vincent hasn’t been mapped out by the United Nations yet and no humanitarian aid has reached the communities settled here.

Luckily, the Mercy Corps team arrived here and has started two programs: the Mercy Corps water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and cash-for-work programs, which work hand in hand. So, in addition to cash-for-work, we plan to provide access to clean water and latrines, because the current facilities are now overstretched with the massive displacement.

One of Rosemarie’s sons was selected to take part in the cash-for-work program, which is aimed at supporting the immediate needs of earthquake-affected populations through community work such as rubble clearing and digging of drainage canals. Participants are enlisted in the program for 20 days and paid at the UN-endorsed daily rate of 180 Haitian Gourdes — about US $4.50 — for six hours of work.

Rosemarie and her family urgently need food and improved shelter but, when asked what her household would do with their first cash-for-work payment, Rosemarie immediately replied, “We'll start back my old trading business. We need to get back on our feet you know!”

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