Mission

Helping people help themselves. Tugende helps motorcycle taxi drivers in East Africa own the tools they need to make a living through a lease-to-own motorcycle financing package.

Challenge

To measure Tugende’s social impact and to establish more robust procedures for future impact reporting.

Research Activities

We conducted surveys in Kampala and Jinja with motorcycle taxi (boda boda) drivers that have completed at least one lease with Tugende and now own their own motorcycles. Partnering with two local university interns, we surveyed 301 Tugende customers, collecting quantitative data on clients’ income, savings, investments, family, and road safety, as well as qualitative descriptions of change in their lives as a result of Tugende.

Key Findings:

1. Supports Families. Through owning their assets, drivers can use the money previously needed to rent their motorcycles to pay for food, medical bills, and school fees for their families.

2. Enables Other Businesses. By renting out or selling their assets, drivers have been able to buy land, invest in or start another business, and invest in agriculture.

3. Measures Social Impact. After observing Tugende’s credit officers in the field, we discerned an efficient and cost-effective way for Tugende to continuously collect impact data within its current processes.

2018

Social Enterprise:
Tugende

Fellows:
Joseph Curran
History & Political Science  

Anne Hsia
Electrical, Music & Math  

A Vehicle Out of Poverty. A report that identifies and quantifies the impact that a Tugende lease has in four categories: increases income, supports families, enables businesses, and improves road safety.

Proposal for Ongoing Social Impact Survey. A proposal for the implementation of social impact data collections procedures within existing processes and with minimal costs.