Digital transformation
Microfinance: four steps to secure daily collection
Door-to-door collection keeps many microfinance institutions going. It is also where most cash discrepancies start. Four simple steps reduce them.
The Bikus Group team5 min read
The collector walks the market, receives the day's deposits, writes them in a notebook and hands in the cash in the evening. Between the moment a trader hands over money and the moment the deposit shows on their account, hours or even days can pass. That gap is where errors and fraud hide, and where members start to doubt.
1. Record every deposit the moment it is received
The collector enters the deposit on their phone, in front of the member, even without network: the transaction is stored and syncs as soon as the connection returns. No more notebook to copy out in the evening.
2. Notify the member immediately
An SMS goes out straight away with the amount and the new balance. The member becomes the first checker: an unrecorded deposit is noticed the same day, and trust comes back.
3. Hand in the cash every evening
In the evening, the cash handed in by the collector is compared with the deposits they recorded, and the handover is received by someone else. The till closing is signed: a discrepancy shows up immediately and has an owner.
4. Make entries impossible to alter
A posted transaction must never be editable or deletable. A mistake is corrected with a reversing entry, with its reason and its author. The board and auditors can then trace everything.
What COOPLYX does
These four steps are at the heart of COOPLYX, the software we designed for microfinance institutions and savings and credit cooperatives in the CEMAC and UEMOA zones: offline collection, an SMS for every deposit, collector handovers, signed till closings and a tamper-proof ledger, with lending and accounting in the same tool. A demo built on your own products is available on request.
