Creation of a website for a microfinance organization (MFO)

The lending market has always attracted business, because where, if not here, can you earn really big money? This led to the emergence of many MFOs – microfinance organizations. They have made lending more accessible, convenient and understandable: the user does not need to collect a package of documents, waste time visiting the bank and wait a day for an answer. It is enough to submit an application, and after 5 minutes the money is on the card, and the exact amount that needs to be returned is always displayed in your personal account.

If you are looking for information on how to create a website for your microfinance organization or are planning to launch a startup in the field of microcredit, our article will certainly be useful to you. We tell you what it takes to launch a successful project in this area and how the development process works.

In 2023, the digital lending market size exceeded $405 billion. Analysts from Mordor Intelligence expect it to increase by 11.9% annually and reach at least 710 billion by 2028. Traditional forms of lending still dominate the market, but their share will continue to decline due to the emergence of more modern and technological solutions that reduce risks and improve the customer experience.

If we talk about the Ukrainian market, then the war has made its own adjustments. In 2022, the level of approval of applications for microloans, as well as the demand for them, fell sharply. But already in the 3rd quarter of 2023, the NBU recorded a resumption of growth in this area. This means that even despite serious problems and threats, the financial market of Ukraine continues to function.

Before moving on to the technical details, it is worth understanding what advantages the MFO website gives to borrowers:

• Minimizes contacts with financial institution specialists.
• Allows you to submit an application for a loan at any time of the day, without the need to visit the company’s office.
• You can manage the money you receive online using the card issuer’s banking.
• The terms of the loan are as transparent as possible – all the necessary information is in your personal account and is available 24/7.
• The speed of making a decision to issue a loan is reduced to a few minutes.

All this contributes to the growing popularity of digital MFOs and helps them attract a large number of new clients. In addition, lenders also receive several important benefits:

• They do not need to maintain a large staff and personally communicate with each borrower. Everything is as automated as possible.
• Saved operating expenses can be redirected to marketing or improving service quality.
• Working online allows you to cover more markets.
• The risk of loan default is significantly reduced due to high-quality automated scoring.

An MFO website may contain many different features aimed at improving the user experience and increasing security.

In this article, we will consider the functionality of an MVP – a minimum viable product that can already be brought to market:

• Registration and login. Registration on the site should be as simple and convenient as possible, but at the same time it must fully comply with security requirements.
• Personal Area. All user data is stored here: copies of documents, payment card details, a list of executed loan agreements and other important information.

• Loan application form. The form should have the format of a kind of loan calculator: the user indicates the required amount, term, and sees online how the cost of the loan changes. At the same time, it is important that it remains simple and intuitive.
• Repayment journal. Here the user can see the repayment schedule and the history of their payments.
• Support chat. Answer user questions at any time of the day to improve the quality of service and increase the number of transactions. To communicate with the audience, you can hire a full-time credit manager, or shift this responsibility to a neural network.

Creating a website for a microfinance organization begins with an idea. For example, this could be a unique feature that will help users solve their problems and increase your competitiveness, or a lower loan rate. And to turn your idea into reality at a technical level, you will need to go through seven simple steps. We tell you how development works in our team:

• Information gathering and research. Specialists study your idea, analyze the market and competitors, and then offer the best options for the technical implementation of the project.
• Prototype. At this stage, a website prototype is created: we think through the UX, create warframes and a mindmap of the interface, design functionality and draw up block diagrams of individual modules. As a result, we get an interactive mockup that visualizes the logic of the future site. Next, we coordinate expectations with the customer, approve the plan and begin implementation.
• Design development. Using current trends in UI, designers create a unique and attractive website design that inspires user trust.

• Technical development. The website of a microfinance organization works like a regular web application: the front end displays data in the browser and generates new requests, and the back end works with the data. At this stage, developers pay special attention to product safety, since the work of microfinance organizations is directly related to financial transactions. As for technologies, for the client part you can use standard HTML, CSS and JS, or the Vue and React frameworks, and the server part can be built in PHP, Python, Java and their frameworks. The final choice of stack depends on functionality, budget and technical requirements for the project.
• Testing. An important stage during which QA engineers check the correct operation of the functionality, look for errors that could have been made by the developers and monitor their elimination.
• Support and development. Technologies and trends on the web are constantly changing, and in order to keep track of all this without losing part of your audience, you can trust us with post-release support for your website. It includes: maintaining stable operation of the system, fixing bugs found by users, developing functionality and interface.

The bank lending market is going through hard times, and against this background, the popularity of microfinance organizations has begun to grow rapidly, because they offer fast, affordable and convenient microloans. In recent years, competition in this niche has grown significantly, and to successfully enter it you will need a high-quality website that can meet the needs of the target audience.

Using our extensive fintech experience, we will help you design and launch an effective product, as well as provide stable post-release support for it. To contact us, fill out the form.