Leading with purpose through our partnership with TechnoServe

By inviting senior leaders from diverse teams and geographies to join the Moody’s Foundation Advisory Board, we’re able to make a deeper impact on our communities and bring our values to life. These colleagues generously volunteer their time and expertise to benefit our social investing partners and gain new professional skills.

Since 2018, we’ve partnered with TechnoServe, a leading nonprofit in almost 30 countries, to unlock the power of technology for small businesses in emerging markets. We sat down with Marie Diron, Managing Director of Global Sovereign Risk for Moody’s Ratings, to hear firsthand about working with TechonoServe as a member of the Foundation’s advisory board:

What motivated you to join the Moody’s Foundation Advisory board and why did you select TechnoServe?

I joined the Moody’s Foundation Advisory Board because of its focus on empowering small businesses and supporting ecosystem restoration, areas I encounter daily in my role at Moody’s Ratings. I wanted to see these issues from a different perspective, recognizing the significant impact of civil society organizations.

TechnoServe's clear mission of providing solutions to poverty, using technology to serve humanity, has always fascinated me. Since their launch in 1968, they have consistently demonstrated a professional and rigorous approach, which has impressed me greatly.

How do you see your role on the Advisory board contributing to TechnoServe's mission and goals?

My role, together with my advisory board partner, Josh Knitchel, is to connect Moody’s employees with TechnoServe, bringing our vast and diverse talent to help address some of the issues they face. Our people can help move an initiative forward or look at a question in a new light, not only because they bring their experience, but also because that experience has been gained in very different sectors or operating environments and may therefore help TechnoServe to ‘think outside the box’. That’s something many of us can relate to in our day-to-day work as we strive to enhance our processes and, at times, really change the way we go about delivering a product or service.

Can you share some highlights and key accomplishments from this year’s Smart Duka program and/or overall work with the TechnoServe team?

We are pursuing two main strands of work with TechnoServe. First, we aim to elevate their Smart Duka program, which helps small shops in Kenya manage waste. TechnoServe aims to wants to form a national association of dukas to enhance network benefits and partnerships. It's a privilege to help shape this idea. The second strand involves organizing workshops to help TechnoServe collect, organize, and analyze their data more efficiently. They have data on 50,000 micro retailers collected over the past eight years, and we are excited about this opportunity!

We have been running the Smart Duka program in partnership with TechnoServe for the past seven years. How has this program and our partnership evolved and what other opportunities do you see in the future?

The program has evolved significantly over the years. Initially, TechnoServe worked with individual dukas to understand their challenges, especially those faced by women business leaders. This led to the design of interventions to lower these hurdles. As of 2020, TechnoServe scaled up by digitizing training to reach more dukas and helping businesses organize into groups, creating an ecosystem. The third phase aims to establish a national network association, fostering partnerships between suppliers, customers, and financial sponsors. This will enable TechnoServe to act as a facilitator rather than a direct participant in the ecosystem.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of your involvement with TechnoServe?

Seeing the "data collection to analysis" idea take shape was very exciting. The concept emerged during a coffee meeting with TechnoServe’s Kenya lead, Kris, in London, with its potential quickly expanding thanks to the diverse skills our employees could offer. Kris was visibly excited about the prospects, and I share that excitement about delivering tangible results to TechnoServe by helping them harness their data's power.

You can learn more about our partnership by visiting the partnerships section of our microsite.