Educational Media Reviews Online

Continuing the popular trend of vérité films today, Banking the Unbanked, follows the business trajectory of the Reliance Project, a microfinance operation in Gambia. The film takes us into staff meetings, client meetings, the selection and remodeling of new retail space, and repossession activities. Interspersed with this are individual interviews with the major players in the business, explaining their roles and visions, or the problems and hardships they encounter.

Some of the most interesting scenes are the sales pitches given by the Reliance agents to woo new business. “Make money by borrowing our money” is the slogan aimed at the small business owners. Once a business signs on for a loan, the Reliance team inspects their collateral. Collateral over there is not only a house, but anything with a possible resale value such as a TV set or a vehicle. We watch as the Reliance team successfully signs up clientele to bank and borrow with them. Then we see the problems incurred when the loans are not repaid. There are various situations, bad investments by a small business owner, fishermen unable to bring in enough of a catch to make ends meet and so on. As these clients get behind in their loan repayments, the Reliance agents start the repossession process. In one case, a client loses his vehicle, and on the return to the office, we see how many other vehicles have been repossessed. And from these vehicles, we get an idea of how many loans have gone bad. The corporate office comes down hard on the Reliance agents for the bad loans and has them cut back on loans. These bad loans not only hurt the corporate office, but also the individuals working for the local office. They have put up their own collateral to help fund their branch.

This film will be useful in a variety of courses. It will tie in well with a class on entrepreneurship as it details the process of starting up a business and the issues faced by new entrepreneurs regardless of geographic location. It will also be of interest to those studying microfinance or microfinance in Africa.

There are 6 chapters: Business Model; Collateral; Background and Goals; Reliable Clients; Collection Issues; Staying in Business.

The film would be best understood if seen in its entirety, although the early chapters on Business Model and Background and Goals could stand alone. The cinematography and sound are good, as are the English subtitles.