CGAP V Progress Report GATEWAY ACADEMY Gateway Academy (gateway.academy) is an innovative learning partnership between Mastercard Foundation and CGAP. It is a digital learning platform aimed at staff of financial service providers (FSPs) that work in financial inclusion. Gateway Academy offers both online and blended (online and in-person) courses and seeks to cultivate communities of practice focused on financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gateway Academy is intended to spin-off from CGAP to be a standalone, sustainable entity. To achieve this, Gateway Academy partners with FSPs and leading training/content providers to identify how learners learn in this context, how best to deliver content to learners, and how to address existing capacity gaps in the market by offering high-quality, relevant, affordable courses. CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 2 1. Evolution of Gateway Academy during CGAP V FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 Content Demand Study Identify Prototyping Alpha and Beta (interviews with challenge and & Country Demo Testing key market opportunity Workshops to Testing players) introduce GA FY15-FY16: Start-up. In April 2015 CGAP commissioned a demand-side study for Sub-Saharan Africa to examine digital learning content demand, internet and device accessibility, and willingness to pay. Thirty interviews were conducted with FSP management, 13 with industry stakeholders, and responses from 149 FSP staff were gathered via an online survey. The findings demonstrated a strong momentum for the adoption of digital learning and online communities among FSP staff to address critical skills gaps in entry and mid-level staff. Also, FSP management and staff reported sufficient access to technology, IT capability, and willingness to pay for Gateway Academy’s offerings. The first two years of the project were focused on collaborating with key stakeholders and putting together a team to develop Gateway Academy’s digital learning hub. During this phase, Gateway Academy brought together 80+ partners — FSPs, training providers, and online learning experts—from seven focus countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia, and Ghana) for a workshop to collaborate and “co-create” the platform and learning content. The learning from this workshop and other consultations informed both the development of course content and the implementation of the platform. FY17: Alpha & Demo Phases. Following a lengthy competitive procurement process, a team was selected to design, develop, and deploy Gateway Academy’s digital learning hub. The team is led by Humentum (formerly LINGOs), an international NGO dedicated to training and capacity building. The Alpha phase, from September 2016-September 2017, involved testing courses in various formats and delivery channels to better understand incentives, constraints, and other factors. Gateway Academy worked with Strathmore Business School, The Helix Institute, the International Training Center at the ILO, and Accion. The Demo phase, the first iteration of the Gateway Academy platform, was launched in June 2017. This minimally viable prototype (MVP) offered basic functionalities, with the idea that user data and feedback resulting from this phase would enable the developers to further enhance it for subsequent phases. Three full-length courses were tested with 85 unique1 learners from eight FSPs in five countries (Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) at no cost. Access to the platform was by invitation only and institutions were selected based on their willingness to learn, interest in online learning, and buy-in from senior management. This phase ended in July 2017. During the second testing period, the platform was accessible by invitation only. 1. Each learner has a unique number in the system that identifies her or him as a platform user. We use the term unique learner to distinguish from the total number of learners as one learner may take more than one course. CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 3 Gateway Academy is benefiting from the guidance of its Board of Advisers that was established in 2017. The first Board Meeting was in June 2017, this meeting was held virtually. This meeting was followed by an in-person meeting in Tanzania in October 2017 where members of the board also attended the design workshop in Dar Es Salaam. The board met twice in person in 2018 and participated in the Founding Partners Paris workshop. FY18: Beta Phase. This phase ran from October 2017 until the end of FY18. During this period, working with four training service providers (TSPs), 12 courses became available on the platform. Some were brand new courses and others were refined or modified versions of existing content. During this first stage of Beta testing, we ran five course cohorts with 94 unique learners from 13 FSPs in all seven target countries plus additional countries in the region (Nigeria and Zimbabwe) and some countries outside the region (Philippines and Tajikistan). Figure 1. Gateway Academy Training Partners • How to Reach the • Introduction to • Optimising • Agent Network • Leadership Right Customers Digital Credit your DFS Agent Management: in Financial Network Increasing Inclusion • Digital • Customers at Usage of DFS Innovations in the Center • Rethinking DFS Assessing Clients’ Product Design Willingness to Pay and Marketing Table 1. Beta Phase Course Testing No of Course TSP FSP Learners Countries Optimising your DFS KCB Bank, FBC Bank, EcoSystems Kenya, Nigeria, Helix 13 Network Agribusiness, Apikomu Enterprises Zimbabwe Zoona, Pioneer, AB Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Customers at the KCB, Zambia Inst of Bankers, Rwanda, Zambia, CGAP 29 Center Asian Credit Fund, Quality Tajikistan, Philippines, MicroInsurance, Equity Bank Kenya Rethinking DFS Product Design and Helix KCB, Blue Print Pension 13 Kenya Marketing Essentials of DFS Helix Fidelity, NBS 33 Ghana, Malawi and Agent Network Digital Innovations in Assessing Client’s Accion Equity Bank 7 Kenya Willingness to Pay CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 4 Gateway Academy continued to add new and improve existing platform functionality. Beta platform changes included Learner Quotes from new and improved features on discussion boards, course Courses Tested in FY18 navigation, automated messages, dashboards for facilitators and administrators, platform metrics, and communication “The course content of GA—I functions for unique learners and facilitators. Other haven’t seen anything like it. The changes included knowledge quizzes, embedded surveys topics covered related to financial on the platform to measure learning effectiveness, and an inclusion and there were people automated course certificate function. Additionally, updates from other parts of Africa. I liked learning about other countries’ were made to the gateway.academy website and changes practices.” were made to the Beta demo version of the platform. Fidelity Ghana Course cohorts were kept limited during the first stage of Credit Specialist Customers at the Center Course Beta testing as functionality was added to the platform and (CGAP) TSPs made changes to the courses based on feedback from demo stage testing. “The most interesting thing was the assignment—to talk to customers The willingness to pay was tested in this phase. One of and staff to get their views on the hypotheses in the first part of Beta testing was that savings accounts—the need to FSPs who had taken one course for free would be willing have a kids savings account came to pay a fee for the next course in the series. This proved up and we are launching a new true with KCB Kenya. KCB signed 13 unique learners for the program as a result.” Agent Banking Course and then paid for another cohort of AB Rwanda 12 unique learners to take another course on Essentials of Head of Banking Services Digital Finance Marketing (both courses are e-workshop type Customers at the Center Course courses offered by Helix). KCB became the first FSP to pay for (CGAP) a course and as of July 2018 all courses on the platform are fee-based. “The case study—it was so much fun. With that, we were learning Working closely with ISG, Gateway Academy’s Monitoring, while practicing so that it gave us time to think. It was like we were Evaluation and Learning (MEL) partner, a rigorous MEL living it. So, it was more like reality system was developed that includes data from the Gateway because you really had to come Academy platform on course completion, learner progress up with suggestions that would and engagement, mandatory, embedded pre- and post- work and you had to come up with course surveys on the platform, and a follow up-survey ideas you could implement, not just on knowledge application six to eight weeks after the end pictures. That really worked for me. of the course, along with interviews and focus groups with It was like an eye opener.” learners, Human Resources and Learning and Development managers, and senior management staff in FSPs, as well as NBS Malawi Credit Specialist TSPs and course facilitators. Essentials of DFS Course (Helix) Gateway Academy content is highly praised from all 94 “It involved different people from learners; many indicate the very timely content especially for different places with different digital finance and customer centricity courses. Learners cite perspectives. We were able to the benefits of case study and peer-to-peer learning, access share what was happening in our to content that is not available anywhere else, and taking country versus other countries in classes and learning from peers outside their organization say West Africa. We got to see how and their country. They also like the flexibility of online others are solving issues.” learning (accessing the course when it is convenient to them). NMB Tanzania Learners also praised the platform for ease of use, and those DFS Specialist who have used the app liked having this as an option. Essentials of DFS Course (Helix) CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 5 2. Overall Assessment of Progress on Deliverables during CGAP V The work with TSPs ran into intellectual property rights issues that had to be resolved before full courses were developed. Once Humentum came onboard, progress was made quickly. As of June 2018, 12 courses were developed working with five TSPs. TSPs that have worked closely with CGAP in the past two years have now developed expertise in content digitization and feel confident they can build additional courses. At the same time, TSPs continue to adjust their courses based on feedback from learners and their business models. Helix/Microsave split one of its courses into two separate courses and is considering offering self-paced courses in addition to e-workshop type courses, to better manage its costs and resources. Table 2. TSPs and Courses Offered on Gateway Academy as of 30 June 2018 TSP and Course Name Course Type Accion Facilitated and How to Reach the Right Customers in the Digital Age Self-Paced versions Accion Facilitated and Digital Innovations in Assessing Clients’ Willingness to Pay Self-Paced versions CGAP Self-paced Customers at the Center CGAP Self-paced Digital Credit Helix/MicroSave e-workshop Essentials of DFS Agent Networks Helix/MicroSave e-workshop Essentials of Product Design & Communications PHB e-workshop Agent Network Management: Increasing Usage of DFS Services Strathmore Business School Blended course Team Leadership, Virtuous Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Three stages of content and platform testing (Alpha, Demo, and Beta) have progressed on time and we continue to reach out to new TSPs while also working to build capacity with existing TSPs. Table 3 summarizes activity for all phases of testing (Alpha, Demo and Beta). • Alpha Testing (January 2017-June 2017): Prototype modules were tested on third party platforms • Demo Testing (June 2017-October 2017): Full courses were tested on the MPV (first iteration) Gateway Academy Platform • Beta Testing (November 2017-June 2018): Full courses were tested on Gateway Academy platform with added functionalities During demo and beta testing stages, Gateway Academy established a demo/testing website where learners and FSPs could access two full length CGAP courses (Customers at the Center and Digital Credit). While these full courses were available on the demo site, 219 learners accessed these courses. As of July 2018, when all the courses are fee-based, these full-length courses were replaced with one free module on the demo site. CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 6 Table 3. CGAP V Summary: Gateway Academy Number of Number Number Courses Course Types of TSPs of FSPs Number of Learners Alpha Testing 294 Self-paced Demo Testing 85 12 Facilitated 6 31 Beta Testing 94 Blended Demo Site Access 219 Total Learners 692 3. Key Highlights from FY18 FY18 started with the delivery of the MVP version Figure 2. Gateway Academy App of the platform and the first stage of the Beta testing. A major focus was on developing new and improving existing platform functionality as well as making improvements on the website and demo site. In addition, to help learners who have connectivity issues and difficulties finding time to learn, Gateway Academy developed an App for Android and IOS-based systems that allows learners to access courses offline. Another focus of FY18 was to refine processes for working with TSPs, FSPs, and learners. Additionally, we worked on creating a marketing and communication strategy and on branding for Gateway Academy. As Gateway Academy is still a new actor in the online and capacity-building market, the decision was made to initially work more closely with a group of six FSPs that are considered founding partners (AB Bank Zambia, Fidelity Bank Ghana, NBS Malawi, Musoni Kenya, Equity Kenya, and Letshego). Working with Creative Metier, a firm with core expertise in human capital and organizational development, Human Resource Managers and Learning and Development Managers from these six FSPs were invited to become part of the Community of Practice (CoP) for HR Managers in Financial inclusion. This CoP collaborates on challenges faced by Human Resource Managers and how online learning can be beneficial to them, providing value to their organizations and furthering their own career development. After an inaugural in-person workshop, meetings have continued virtually and there is an active WhatsApp group. Creative Metier is helping to facilitate this CoP and is finalizing research which it will co-present with Gateway Academy in September 2018 in Kenya. FSP outreach has progressed as planned. Today Gateway Academy has worked with 31 FSPs in the seven target countries. Overall, 473 learners have accessed at least one of our courses and an additional 219 (total of 692) have accessed two full courses on the demo site of the platform. To expand our reach with FSPs and TSPs and share our findings with our partners and market players and influencers, we held our first series of three webinars in February, March, and May 2018. Over 190 people attended from many countries around the world. Gateway Academy co-presented in these webinars with Fidelity Bank, AB Zambia, NMB Bank Tanzania, FSD Africa, and KCB Bank Kenya. CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 7 Table 4. Gateway Academy Webinars (February-May 2018) Webinar Title Date Presenters Overall Attendance Ready to Learn? Early Lessons • AB Bank, Zambia from GA on launching an 1 February 2018 • Fidelity Bank, Ghana 67 e-learning program • Gateway Academy Can Financial Institutions • Creative Metier Improve Employee Development 20 March 2018 • Gateway Academy 63 and Retention through Online • NMB Bank, Tanzania Learning? • FSD Africa Making the Case for Digital 24 May 2018 • Gateway Academy 65 Learning • KCB Bank, Kenya 4. Issues Issues with Start-up Hiring Staff. The Mastercard Foundation trust fund began in January 2015. However, Gateway Academy staff did not start work full-time until mid-July 2015. From January to July, the project was overseen by CGAP’s communications director and one STC. Intellectual Property. CGAP ran into intellectual property issues with existing training content with TSPs. The expectation had been that CGAP would fund the digitization of existing courses. However, because of World Bank procurement policy, if CGAP paid for the digitization then CGAP would own the final product. Because the TSPs will be charging for the courses, CGAP could not own them. This set the timeline for course development back by about a year in some cases. During that time, CGAP was able to create prototype courses and begin testing. Once Humentum was contracted, they were able to provide support to the TSPs to digitize their courses. World Bank Procurement. In the first half of 2015, World Bank procurement advised CGAP that it should use the existing World Bank contract with Saba for Gateway Academy. Saba is the World Bank’s learning management system that runs the Open Learning Campus (OLC). In August and September, CGAP tested Saba in multiple markets in Africa. Saba required too much bandwidth and was too cumbersome to work well in this context. With support from the new CGAP CEO, Gateway Academy went back to Corporate Procurement with data supporting the need for a different platform. Additionally, because Gateway Academy is meant to spin-off from CGAP, it made sense to develop a stand-alone system. The decision was then made to procure a platform. A lengthy procurement process lasted from March 2016 to January 2017. Humentum (formerly LINGOs) was selected to build a custom digital learning platform. Preparedness of FSP Partners Realities of technology preparedness are challenging. Access and connectivity remain an issue in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and will continue to be issues for the foreseeable future. While some FSPs, including some of our founding partner FSPs, are finding creative solutions (building in-house computer labs, providing staff with a data package allowance, etc.), many others cannot afford to do so. CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 8 Learner Quotes on Finding Time to Learn “I mostly did it in the “We were told we would spend “The good thing is that the course morning. It was really 30 minutes to one hour in a is accessible in the mobile phone. challenging to find day and 20 hours in the week So even if you are committed time. You have a lot but these figures do not add with the office duties, once you of stuff to do at your up. I am new to the digital, so are done with the working hours, desk and in the field. I I spent more time reading and you can do it through the mobile had to use my phone then going extra on YouTube. I phone. That is how I managed. most of the time. It did not end where the materials But you cannot do it when you are was challenging but it ended. I went and learned more in the office. It is really difficult. was worth it.” outside of the course materials. Let me be sincere. All work was I did not confine myself to the done outside of the working Fidelity Ghana course materials.” hours.” Credit Specialist NMB, Tanzania KCB Kenya Credit Specialist DFS Specialist Finding time to learn is still a challenge. Learners overwhelmingly enjoyed the courses, but finding time to learn is still a challenge so flexibility is key. Gateway Academy has learned that offering flexibility to learners is important. To help learners with the issue of limited access to internet and lack of time, we developed an app. Continuous dialogue and communication with FSPs is critical. The dynamics of each organization are different and FSP middle management staff is prone to the same high turnover rate as lower level staff. Nurturing a relationship with the highest level of management in the organization is the best way to ensure buy-in for the Gateway Academy model. Early onboarding of HR and Learning managers is another lesson from all the testing done so far. We see building the capacity of managers as important not only for Gateway Academy’s expansion but for building overall market capacity for FSPs. Gateway Academy has partnered with prominent MFIs, banks, and NGOs in the focus countries, including Equity Bank, KCB, Jamii Bora, AB Bank, Ugafode, Letshego, and FMB, and we will continue to work with such market leaders. We are continually reminded that organizational culture change needs to be at the forefront of our work with key stakeholders. As elsewhere in the world, perception of online learning is changing in the region. Financial service providers are beginning to see this type of learning as complementary to face-to-face learning, but there is a wide range of application of online learning within the industry and much work needs to be done to bring everyone on board about digital learning as not just the future but the present of organizational learning. Willingness to Pay The market for financial inclusion training is distorted. There has been donor funding on both the supply and demand sides for many years. It is a significant challenge to get FSPs to pay for training, especially when it is known that this project is supported by Mastercard Foundation. However, the major investment by Mastercard Foundation in building the platform and in stimulating both the supply and demand sides for digital learning will allow Gateway Academy to keep fees at an affordable level. CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 9 Gateway Academy also made a strategic shift to promoting packaged courses that offer additional benefits in a tiered system, moving away from selling one course at a time (see Appendix of this report). While market research and our own research indicate that there is willingness to pay, Gateway Academy is a new entity and still needs to make a strong marketing effort to demonstrate the value of the platform, content, and digital learning in general. Spin-Off Gateway Academy is intended to spin-off from CGAP. This is a complex endeavor that involves identifying the right type of entity (new or existing, non-profit or commercial) and ensuring that the entity has start- up capital, staff, and legal status. Currently, Gateway Academy is a project of CGAP and as such cannot collect money directly from FSPs. Humentum is currently acting as Gateway Academy’s fiscal agent. The funds that may be collected in fees over the next two years will be transferred to this new entity. However, our current projections estimate that Gateway Academy will continue to need some level of donor support into the next few years. 5. Partnerships Together with Mastercard Foundation, Gateway Academy has adapted the approach to digital learning and refined our value proposition to FSPs, TSPs, and individual learners. Gateway Academy’s Board of Advisers is comprised of experts in digital and adult learning and training, financial inclusion, customer centricity, and market creation. All six board members have professional work experience in Africa. Gateway Academy continues to work closely with other aggregators, e.g. in digital learning and financial inclusion markets. We co-presented with FSD Africa at one of our webinars and continue to exchange ideas and share findings within the digital learning and financial inclusion fields. We presented at an ICT4D Conference in Zambia in May 2018, Market Systems Symposium in April 2018, Africa Business and Finance Conference in Nigeria in April 2018, and Humentum’s Global Learning Conference in Arusha in Feb 2018. 6. Next Phase for CGAP VI In FY19, Gateway Academy will move away from marketing individual courses and will be providing packages of courses in tiers. Working closely with our Board of Advisers and building on the lessons learned and feedback from the market, we have shifted our approach to better reflect the value of courses and to accommodate for the fact that we cannot charge directly for CGAP-developed content. We have established three tiers ranging in prices from US$10,000-49,950 (see Appendix). The number of learners and additional benefits (reporting, benchmarking, learning pathways and effectiveness, white labeling) go up in each tier. Starting in the Fall of 2019, the platform will be open to the public. Gateway Academy will focus on marketing and building relationships with FSP HR and Learning and Development Managers and Senior Managers. We will also continue working with the CoP for HR managers and expand the pool of FSPs CGAP V Progress Report | Gateway Academy 10 who are participating in the CoP. In addition to the seven target countries, the plan is to expand to other English-speaking countries in Africa and Asia. The objective is for Gateway Academy to be a sustainable, online learning marketplace. The current funding for Gateway Academy ends in two years, which includes a six-month extension of the original Mastercard Foundation trust fund. A new, separate legal entity will have been created or identified that may be partially funded by donors and partially self-funded. During the next two years, the focus will be on generating revenue from FSPs from the tier packages, seeking donor start-up capital, and setting up the legal requirements necessary for the spin-off. Appendix Tiered pricing for Gateway Academy