Unlocking Private Investment in Last-Mile Access via Shared Agent Networks: A Funder's Guide

Highlights

• Serving the last mile remains the hardest part of expanding sustainable access to financial services. Shared agent networks can improve the economics of reaching rural areas, but they often need funders to act as catalysts, de-risking the initial build, creating the conditions for private sector participation, and establishing a network that can eventually sustain itself.
• This reading deck explores how shared agent networks, which benefit both funders and the private sector, should be a core consideration in fragile contexts and provides a financial modelling tool to help understand the trade-offs in funder support. This pathway for development funders to unlock private investment in rural areas is one of six "Big Ideas" for strengthening social protection delivery in fragile contexts. 
• While the right approach for funders depends on what already exists in the market, three models have been identified across different contexts:
  1. Backing an existing operator 
  2. Co-creating a new shared entity 
  3. Leveraging public payment infrastructure