Systems Thinking and Equity: Pivot 

Context 

In late 2023, I co-led a strategic pivot at CreditBook because there a growing need for a sustainable revenue model to support the company’s growth since launching the free mobile ledger app for micro, small and medium businesses. The focus was on identifying where value lies for these underserved businesses. Drawing on systems thinking and participatory design, we mapped out the inefficiencies faced by SMBs over a three month period. Key actions: 

• Observing SMB workflows to map pains and inefficiencies when managing cash flows

• Designing solutions that made credit access simpler while building credit histories

The pivot resulted in an loan operating system to process and manage all integrated finance offerings, ultimately leading to a month on month increase in loans of 20%, an increase in automation leading to cost savings of 200%, and over 8000 loans processed and disbursed at an average of 14 hours. 

Problem

Only 7% of 5.2M SMBs in Pakistan receive traditional financing, resulting in poor cash-flow and slow growth opportunities. Despite digitisation, financial accessibility remains a gap, particularly for those lacking a formal credit history.  We sought to: 

• Empower businesses with digital financing that is easy and accessible for their customers

• Build credit history in a frictionless, user friendly way

• Enable fast, reliable access to products with minimal red tape and increased automation

Opportunity 

To expand CreditBook’s product suite and customer base, offering SMBs with solutions tailored to their needs.

• For SMBs: meet unmet financing needs of end customers, leading to increased revenue and growth without investing resources in regulatory expertise

• For Customers: expanded credit and affordable financial products creating new avenues for SMB customers to engage in commerce 

• For CreditBook: new revenue stream, larger customer base and better data for underwriting