MFI Management Game is a highly interactive training for senior and middle managers as well as for high potentials who want to understand how the performance of a Microfinance Institution (MFI) can be improved by best management practices.
Objectives of the interactive training:
- Learn how to balance social responsibility and sustainability of the MFI.
- Develop and implement a logically coherent business strategy.
- Engage in target-oriented teamwork.
- Observe the market to learn more about customer behaviour and competitor’s performance.
- Assess the way economic environment influences daily business operations.
- Build up experience in the field of risk management and quality enhancement.
- Analyse and interpret business reports.
- Become fully skilled in the use of business and microfinance-specific measures.
Contents of the MFI Mangament Game:
- Strategies and objectives of an MFI
- Competent HR decision-making, e.g. HR structure, intensity of training activities and flexible wage structures.
- Marketing, growth options and market position of an MFI
- Risk management and successful handling of critical situations in daily operations
- Profit optimisation and financial sustainability
- Introduction of savings products and other financial products
- Successful negotiations with donor institutions
Setup of the training:
The overall objective of the MFI Management Game is to experience how to manage an MFI effectively by making typical business decisions in a realistic environment. Participants learn the crucial principles of business administration: How to use information in decision-making and to handle risk and uncertainty.
The learning process is broken down into six phases:
- Participants are divided into small groups. Each group is responsible for managing a microfinance institution. The different teams are informed about the MFI's history, its current situation, the macroeconomic context, and conditions in the MFI sector.
- Participants analyse their MFI's financial and performance reports and decide on an overall (risk) strategy.
- A business plan is set up and managerial decisions are made in groups for the next period and entered into the simulation software.
- The simulation calculates the results for the entire market, based on the management decisions made by each individual group.
- The simulation results in form of financial and non-financial reports are distributed and analysed in groups. Again, decisions are made for a next phase.
- All in all up to six phases may be played. Every group will present its results at the end. Together with experienced trainers the results are evaluated in transfer sessions by setting them into the context of real MFI business practice.
Lessons learned:
- Participants sharpen their analytical skills by examining the viability of their business goals and analysing market values and trends.
- Uncoordinated actions and the use of the principle of hope give way to reflection and analysis.
- Competitors and customer groups are taken into account, goals and strategies are redefined and potential decisions are stress-tested.
- Complex situations are analyzed, team work is actively performed and training results are transferred into actual MFI business practices.
Business games: A central module of knowledge transfer in leading financial institutions and universities:
High demand and extensive training experience in many countries worldwide as well as feedback from highly satisfied customers bear witness to the success and value added of the Business Games.
Some of the financial institutions that apply our Business Games include, inter alia:
- Bank of China and China Construction Bank (two of the most important banks in China)
- Sberbank (Russia's number one bank)
- Erste Group Bank AG (one of the leading banks in Austria with subsidiaries in Central and Southeast Europe)
- Société Generale (one of the leading banks in France with subsidiaries worldwide)
- Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (one of the largest European Finance groups)
For more details about the MFI Management Game, visit our HQ website.
