FIRST+: Delivered services to 18 financial institutions to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and expand MSME finance. Revamped and fortified credit appraisal and risk management practices. Provided tools and training to succeed in cash flow-based finance. Enhanced marketing and sales skills. Developed and launched gender strategies and new products tailored to women in the agriculture sector. On average, long-term financial institution clients increased the value of their MSME loans by 234% in two years. Provided group-based capacity building for 1,192 financial institution staff in collaboration with GHAMFIN.

FIRST+II: Transforming 7 financial institutions’ MSME and agriculture loan products and processes. Equipping a total of 21 financial institutions with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices, enhanced credit appraisal and sales skills, and/or products and services tailored for women. Developed and piloted a loan portfolio guarantee program with GIRSAL that benefits smallholder farmers and MSMEs, especially women and youth borrowers. Managing the FIRST+II consortium of 10 partners that together will impact 307,000 youth through these loans and by providing business development services to entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers, building the financial capability of people with disabilities, and providing group capacity building for financial institution staff.

CapPlus delivers a powerful combination of mutually reinforcing interventions that help financial institutions increase the impact, effectiveness, scale, and profitability of their services to smallholder farmers, micro and small businesses.

Capacity Building Services

Peer Exchange Opportunities and Trainings

Piloting and Mainstreaming Innovations via Partnerships

Capacity Building Services

CapPlus delivers technical assistance to build financial institutions' capacity to apply best practices in areas such as the following.

Agriculture Finance

Market assessments, strategy, value chain finance, input finance, warehouse receipts financing, climate resilience services and finance, equipment leasing, credit scoring with crop cards, unsecured loan products or variable payment mechanisms to support smallholder farmers and agriculture-based MSMEs; micro-insurance.

Risk Management and Capital Adequacy

Problem loan and credit risk management, loan appraisal tools and training, risk mitigation tools and strategies, portfolio analysis, operational and regulatory risk management, portfolio guarantee products, transaction advisory and due diligence services, investment readiness, portfolio stress testing, and governance strengthening.

MSME Finance from A to Z

SME banking diagnostic; market assessments and strategy, structure and staffing; skill building and training; streamlining processes from origination through repayment and recovery; credit appraisal automation; MSME product design, pilot testing and scale-up; policies and procedures; marketing and sales; portfolio management; operations and technology–based solutions.

Digital Transformation and Information Technology

Strategy, operations and implementation for customer-facing services and digitalization of internal operations. Loan origination system design and implementation; scorecard development and implementation. Also IT diagnostics, core banking system upgrades and conversions, and digital financial services.

Women and Youth

Market assessments, outreach and service strategies, tailored financial products for women and youth, nonfinancial services, and delivery channels.

Strengthening SME Finance Ecosystems

Work with central banks, associations and other Industry aggregators to improve the knowledge and skills of financial institution staff through capacity building, peer learning and knowledge exchange, training and engagement forums. Design and implement loan guarantee schemes including portfolio guarantees.

Market Development for High Impact Finance

Includes sustainably financing education and childcare, TVET students and institutions, private healthcare businesses, and green lending. Conduct market research to estimate demand for finance; design responsive financial and nonfinancial services; co-design and pilot market strategies, tailored financial products and quality improvement services; sales strategy design and implementation, market intelligence and sales training; scale up successes.

Human Resources and Change Management

Achieve long-term systemic change within financial institutions through leadership and staff development; communications, training and coaching, performance management, employee engagement and effective human resources administration.

Amplifying the Impact of New Capital

CapPlus escalates the impact of new capital infusions by conducting needs assessments and managing technical assistance funds to strengthen financial institutions’ operations, products, processes, risk management, governance or other challenges constraining their success. We’ve repeatedly proven that combining capacity building with new capital accelerates financial institutions’ impact and profitability, thus increasing social and financial returns on investments.

Peer Exchange

Based upon its impact in CapPlus’ Small Business Banking Network (merged into the IFC’s SME Finance Forum in 2015), CapPlus continues to promote peer learning within its projects.

Financial Institution Resilience and Strengthening (FIRST+) in Ghana

In the initial phase of FIRST+, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, CapPlus partnered with the Ghana Microfinance Institutions Network (GHAMFIN) to deliver numerous webinars and workshops to enable financial institutions to recover from the pandemic’s havoc on their micro and small business borrowers. Over a two-year period, 1,192 financial institution staff learned the most essential skills to return their financial institutions to profitability while accelerating lending to micro and small businesses.

FIRST+II

In the current FIRST+II program, GHAMFIN, CapPlus, and its other 9 partners continue providing peer learning opportunities for financial institution staff, smallholder farmers, MSME entrepreneurs, and persons with disabilities, with an emphasis upon youth and women. CapPlus also creates frequent opportunities for its partners to convene and share learnings with each other.


"MAMA Program"

The MAMA Program is transforming how Pan-African Savings & Loans (PASL) supports women across Gha...

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Innovations

CapPlus develops and mainstreams innovative solutions to common challenges experienced by financial institutions committed to accelerating micro and small business finance.

iCAM

iCAM, the Integrated Creditworthiness Appraisal Module, is an automated credit appraisal tool with credit scoring criteria for 12 crops that CapPlus developed and piloted in the initial phase of FIRST+. It had a profound positive impact on the financial institutions using it. In FIRST+II, iCAM has been improved based on the first two years of use and is customized for each financial institution.

iCAM applies a cashflow-based appraisal methodology that significantly reduces borrowers’ collateral requirements, eliminates gender biases, accelerates loan approvals from several weeks to several days, and often results in higher loan amounts.

It is especially beneficial to women and youth entrepreneurs and start-ups, as they often have less collateral. iCAM makes customers happier, credit officers’ jobs easier, and reduces the financial institution’s risk by ensuring standardized, quality appraisals.

It has also made credit officers eager to learn and practice all of iCAM’s underwriting principles and to thoroughly understand their borrowers’ businesses and cash flows. iCAM made believers out of the skeptics who doubted the benefits of expanding agriculture and MSME finance.

Education Markets Impact Initiative (EMII)

Private schools represent a $4.5 billion market opportunity for financial institutions to deliver credit in just eight cities. EMII leverages the schools’ desire for credit to drive improvements in education quality through loan conditions, incentives, and more intensive interventions.

CapPlus equips financial institutions to deliver tailored services to meet schools’ unique finance needs, as well as:

  • Offer services designed especially for women entrepreneurs
  • Extend deposit and credit products to other businesses in the education value chain
  • Assemble partnerships to improve learning outcomes, strengthen proprietors’ financial management skills, and more.

Launched and Scaled the Small Business Banking Network (SBBN)

CapPlus created the first membership-based financial institution network focused on scaling finance to small and growing businesses in emerging economies. Based on SBBN’s success, the G20’s SME Finance Forum created its own membership network into which SBBN merged in 2015.

View a case study on SBBN here.

Delivering Results

83%

of clients increased lending to women

$13.7bn

disbursed to MSMEs in 13.5 million loans from client financial institutions

7,500+

bankers in 30 countries trained

95%

of surveyed FIRST+I MSME borrowers experienced revenue growth after receiving a loan

Bangladesh

BRAC

Build-out of SME business line. Developed centralized, comprehensive risk management structure, including revised capital plans, organizational changes, formalization of operational and control processes and establishment of an independent risk management function. Leadership training and strategic and organizational restructuring conducted.

Kenya

Commercial Bank of Africa

Conducted comprehensive small business diagnostic to identify opportunities for developing and expanding SME finance activities, including analysis of overall operations necessary to support service to the segment.

Pakistan

Khushhali Microfinance Bank

Designed new products, refined procedures, and implemented a recruitment strategy to attract the best-qualified loan officers to support the bank’s growth. CapPlus also developed a capacity building plan incorporating branch operations, operational efficiency, credit risk management, IT, human capital, branding and marketing, and communications.

Cambodia

Sathapana

Multi-year capacity building assignment including strengthening governance and internal audit, SME training, IT conversion, savings mobilization, and embedded risk management.

Azerbaijan

TuranBank

IT conversion: diagnostic, risk assessment, roadmap, and strategy.

Mongolia

XacBank

Leadership and management coaching and training, including follow-up assessments.

Client Spotlight

Learn how we work with clients through the voices of our customers

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"From Milestone to Momentum"

Manya Krobo Community Bank, Ghana

Eight months into piloting an unsecured loan product that Manya Krobo Community Bank designed in partnership with CapPlus, under the FIRST+II program, the pilot has already exceeded expectations. What began as a bold step toward strengthening the bank’s MSME lending capacity is now delivering remarkable results – Manya Krobo has disbursed loans of over GHs3.82 million to 171 MSMEs across four pilot branches.

This remarkable performance reflects the product’s tailored design for rural MSMEs as well as the bank’s increasing confidence, agility, and efficiency. By streamlining the bank’s lending processes, introducing an automated loan appraisal system, and intensively training and mentoring bank staff on risk management, credit appraisals, and portfolio monitoring, CapPlus has empowered Manya Krobo to serve MSMEs – especially youth- and women-owned enterprises – more effectively than ever.

Branch managers are elated with the results, highlighting both the speed and quality of the new loan processes. The enthusiasm across the bank is palpable as teams apply the lessons, tools, and confidence gained so far from the pilot to scale inclusive MSME financing even further.

More importantly, each disbursement tells a story of an enterprise now able to grow, new opportunities created for workers, and a bank transformation made tangible. As the pilot continues, the bank is poised to prove that with the right systems, skills, and spirit, delivering credit to previously underserved MSMEs and smallholder farmers is a clear path for institutional growth, sustainability, and impact.

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"Driving Systemic Change in MSME Finance"

Atwima Kwanwoma Community Bank (AKCB), Ghana

For many Ghanaian rural and community banks, the challenge in delivering micro and small business (MSME) finance is building the systems, structures, and capabilities required to safely and sustainably lend to borrowers who may not have formal business records and practices.

Atwima Kwanwoma Community Bank took the opportunity to address its operational constraints by participating in the FIRST+II program implemented by CapPlus in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.

In less than two years, AKCB has instituted significant systemic changes that increase its capacity to successfully lend to MSMEs, as it completed the following:

  • Established a dedicated Business Development Unit to proactively identify and serve MSMEs
  • Strengthened credit processes – including enhancing its loan appraisal practices – to responsibly lend to previously underserved customers
  • Equipped bank staff with practical skills in credit management, marketing, and business development
  • Refined and updated its reporting systems to improve how data is captured, analyzed, and applied, enabling it to more rapidly and effectively monitor performance, manage risk, and guide strategic decisions.

“Before this support, we did not have a business development department. Today, we have a fully functional unit driving our growth, and within just one year, we have increased our loan portfolio by over 80%. More importantly, we are now lending better, reaching MSME clients who previously would not have qualified and are doing so in a more structured and sustainable way,” Samuel Bonsu Sekyere, CEO, Atwima Kwanwoma Community Bank.

AKCB’s internal improvements are generating a positive impact far beyond its walls as it is now investing at least 80% more into local entrepreneurs who are growing their businesses, creating new jobs, and paying their workers more livable wages.

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"MAMA Program"

Pan-African Savings & Loans, Accra, Ghana

The MAMA Program is transforming how Pan-African Savings & Loans (PASL) supports women across Ghana. By offering easier access to loans, flexible repayment options, tailored savings products, and financial literacy and wellbeing support, the program is empowering women to become more confident, vocal, and actively engaged in their financial journeys.

Launched in 2023 with support from the initial phase of FIRST+ and further strengthened under the FIRST+ II program, MAMA delivers a comprehensive suite of financial and non-financial services across key sectors, including business, agriculture, housing, employment, and youth development. Designed with women’s unique financial needs in mind, the program enables clients to grow their businesses and achieve long-term financial stability.

As of March 2026, the MAMA Program has reached 12,105 deposit clients, demonstrating strong uptake of its savings products. In addition, 1,211 women have accessed individual loans, supporting business growth and livelihood improvements. The program has also facilitated the formation of 209 MAMA groups, reaching 1,390 women through group lending, further strengthening peer support, financial discipline, and collective empowerment. In addition to providing networking opportunities for MAMA customers, over 4,000 clients have benefited from the E-Health services, thereby improving their overall well-being.

To enhance delivery and deepen client impact, PASL staff have received specialized training in sales and marketing. In addition, staff were trained in credit appraisal, strengthening their ability to assess loan applications accurately and providing inclusive lending solutions aligned with women’s realities.

These combined efforts reflect PASL’s strong commitment to advancing sustainable financial inclusion and driving the economic empowerment of women, particularly in underserved and informal markets.

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"Maintaining Growth through Technology"

Reliance Financial Services, The Gambia

Founded in 2006 by three Gambian professionals, Reliance Financial Services (RFS) operates as a savings-led financial company deeply committed to the development of the Gambian people. To provide financial services to the “average Gambian,” especially those at the base of the economic pyramid, RFS, with CapPlus support, began serving small businesses soon after its founding and it proved to be a profitable and fast growing segment.

Results
A technology plan developed by the CapPlus team guided RFS through a successful IT system conversion that was critical to supporting the institution’s growth. By following the detailed roadmap to set up in-house IT capacity, RFS is now able to manage its IT infrastructure, assets and activities effectively.

Approach
CapPlus assisted RFS in an IT system conversion and strengthening of its IT department, working to identify overall business objectives, current levels of IT capabilities, and risks associated with the upgrade of the core banking solution. A CapPlus banking expert provided guidance, oversight and implementation support for the IT department, including annual planning and budgeting, asset management, data management, and security.

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"Seizing Opportunities to Serve SMEs"

IDLC Finance Limited, Bangladesh

IDLC Finance Limited (IDLC) was created in 1985 as the first leasing company in Bangladesh. It is now the largest multi-product, nonbank financial institution in the country, with two subsidiaries on the Dhaka stock exchange, more than 20 branches, and 800 employees. IDLC focuses on the corporate, retail, and SME sectors with aggressive growth plans to be the leader in SME finance in Bangladesh. CapPlus conducted a diagnostic, which served as the basis for a long-term implementation plan to achieve IDLC’sambitious targets.

Results
IDLC is now following a comprehensive roadmap to implement the changes necessary to make SME finance its leading business line. Management wholeheartedly acknowledges CapPlus’ role in assessing its strengths, challenges and opportunities, as well as providing guidance for addressing weaknesses and taking advantage of market opportunities.

Approach
CapPlus conducted a small business banking diagnostic to identify high impact opportunities for improvement. The diagnostic is a comprehensive assessment tool that analyzes the drivers of SME Banking success and overall strategic and operational improvements that are necessary to successfully serve small businesses.

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"Building Capacity to Serve SMEs and Women Entrepreneurs"

CRDB Bank Plc, Tanzania

Results
Over 100 CRBD loan officers, relationship managers and other staff have applied skills, techniques and learnings they gained through tailored study visits and on-site staff trainings. As they look to maintain strong growth in their SME banking business, CRDB is working with CapPlus toward a long term capacity building plan with continued support in implementing recommendations made via the small business banking diagnostic.

Approach
Through a variety of services, including the diagnostic, gender sensitivity and women’s empowerment training, study visits, and SME and customer relationship management training, CapPlus is supporting CRDB’s mission to provide competitive and innovative financial products and services.

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"Developing a New Business Model for Serving MSMEs"

Khushhali Bank Limited, Pakistan

Based in Islamabad, Khushhali Bank Limited (KBL) is the largest microfinance bank in Pakistan, with 118 branches throughout the country serving almost 500,000 borrowers. KBL was founded in 2000 as part of the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy and Microfinance Sector Development Program, specifically to act as a catalyst in stabilizing the country’s newly formed microfinance sector. CapPlus is KBL’s partner in supporting its transformation into a full service MSME bank.

Results
CapPlus worked with KBL to create and launch an MSME pilot program – it is now KBL’s fastest growing, high-quality portfolio.

Approach
CapPlus was an active partner in designing new products, establishing procedures, and implementing a recruitment strategy to attract the best-qualified loan officers to support the bank’s growth. The CapPlus team worked with KBL to develop a capacity building plan focused on the MSME business pilot, while also examining branch operations, operational efficiency, credit risk management, IT, human capital, branding and marketing, and communications. CapPlus continues to work with KBL in these areas through a long-term technical assistance plan.

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