Focus Groups

A few lessons:

1. In Uganda, time is relative. We’ve been planning focus groups for 1:30 and not a one of the three we’ve held so far has started before 3:00. This, while predictable, actually adds another layer of difficulty: at what point is it no longer worthwhile waiting for another person who might just be very, very late?

2. No one likes Coke. I’m actually kind of shocked. (Coke here is delicious and made with real sugar instead of corn.) We serve soda at the focus groups and no one yet has taken a single Coke. I may need to drink them myself just so we can return the bottles and get our deposit back.

3. The SACCO has no reliable way of getting in touch with a huge percentage of its membership. Application forms don’t even have a space for phone numbers, though most people have them now, and no one comes in to update their account information. We can contact about half of the inactive SACCO members.

Most importantly, the message we’re getting from the people who do participate in the focus group is that no one actually knows what services the SACCO offers. People with means don’t know about the long-term savings account and people without them don’t know about ledger fees. No one knows what interest rates or dividends are. Loans are easier to come by than many participants believe. Of course, some people have unrealistic expectations: SACCO is not getting an ATM this year or next, and people will always need some kind of collateral or guarantee in order to get loans. However, it is clear while that SACCO has done an admirable job attracting people to its services, once people are enrolled, SACCO has not done its job educating people about how they can get the best use out of the organization.