Caroline Mwende Email and Phone Number

Sample projects I have done:1. Market research to understand the vehicle procurement dynamics in Kenya, segmenting potential customers and determining the opportunities available for the introduction of a new vehicle model in the market.2. Community needs assessment in Tanzania (Mbeya and Ruvuma) to identify and capture on-the-ground concerns, needs, and aspirations of community leaders and members in order to define the most appropriate and beneficial community project to invest in3. Conducting both quantitative and qualitative research to identify barriers and drivers to female mobile readership in Kenya and helping the organization to develop a more improved reader strategy.4. Evaluating a new agric-product offering by an MFI among rice farmers in Dakawa, Tanzania and recommending ways to make it more customer-centric. 5. Market assessment of the needs and potential of agriculture value chain financing in Tanzania for selected agricultural products, drawing a business case to cover the potentiality of the market, demographics, competition, gaps existing within the current market and client preference. 6. Assessing an MFI's client’s perception of the level and quality of service delivery and recommending service improvement measures 7. Evaluating an MFI's organizational efficiency and impact of SMS usage and re-designing it to enhance client centricity, and provide recommendations for additional uses. 8. Conducting desirability tests for mobile money services in Kenya, assessing the best way to integrate an additional mobile money platform into an MFI's systems and provide recommendations for scale-up.

I managed the research and insights function of the organization in Kenya and Tanzania:1. Research project management: Ensuring detailed research protocols are developed, overseeing the implementation of research initiatives to ensure quality, relevance, cost control, timeliness and ethical standards are maintained at all stages including instrument design, sampling, piloting, instrument revision, fieldwork and coding. Managing the procurement process to engage research firms and/or consultants2. Insights and Strategy: gathering audience intelligence, identifying strengths, gaps and opportunities within our media products, working with production and social media teams to ensure that audience insights are incorporated into messaging and outreach strategies across the various media platforms3. Monitoring/Evaluation: Working with project teams to clarify outcomes, develop and implement monitoring and evaluation plans, overseeing the implementation of research initiatives, preparation and presentation of reports on the progress and impact of project activities including quarterly and annual program reports, providing internal capacity development on results management and outcome mapping/harvesting, disseminating study results internally and externally4. Administration: Ensuring that project/department milestones and goals are met, developing and managing project/department budgets, managing a team of full time staff/contracted staff/consultants in Kenya and Tanzania being responsible for recruitment and performance management, key liaison between departments and externally with partners and other stakeholders

AppLab Money Kenya is an innovative programme that uses human-centered design approach to develop, test and scale the next generation of breakthrough products and services tailored to meet the financial needs of the poor. 1.Research and Product Design: I manage the research work-stream including field research, concept literature reviews, concept desirability tests and product usability tests. Also generating solution ideas, developing concepts, creating and testing product prototypes.2. Go-to market strategy formulation: Gathering business requirements and processes, formulating pricing strategies, creating and implementing marketing and training plans, as well as negotiating and putting in place winning partnerships 3. Pilot planning and product launch: Coordinating cross-organizational and cross-functional work-streams in developing strategies and road-maps for the product pilot and eventual roll-out.4. Monitoring and Evaluation: Putting together the pilot M&E plan, identifying product performance metrics, setting targets and developing data collection, analysis and reporting tools

Real People is a South African company offering business, asset and housing finance in East Africa. My job was to provide a high level research support to the company’s East Africa business. 1. Designed and rolled-out a new credit scoring system for micro business customers2. Ensured that the company's SWOT in EA was up to date 2. Helped the company to design and adopt new business products and strategies3. Responsible for tracking EA financial sector trends and developments 4. Provided insights on the EA financial consumer 5. Gathered competitor information and recommended effective positioning strategies