Ideo coLab - Ghullak
Ethnographic Research
How might we encourage low income families to save more money?
BACKGROUND
'GHULLAK' (meaning in Hindi: Piggy Bank) is an Ethnographic Research, and Social Impact Project to discover how low income families in the city of Mumbai (India), can save more money.
My Role
Primary Design Researcher – Sourced and interviewed the candidates and designed
I approached the interviewees to ask them questions about their monthly income, expenses and savings. Often, at the beginning of the interview, people were hesitant to reveal these details as it was sensitive to them, and they were not comfortable revealing their financial details to strangers. I spoke to them in the local language (Hindi) that made them more comfortable sharing their personal financial experience.
Final Outcome
Insights about the saving patterns of the low income families
Conceptual ‘Ghullak’ (piggy bank) with a schedule to encourage regular smaller savings
Communication material to send reminders about the value of making small savings
Challenges identified
Unexpected expenses
Limited financial education
Few sources of income
Research
Field Research & Interviews
Research Findings & Challenges
After speaking to a few low income communities it became clear that the lack of knowledge and initiation were the two biggest things which were holding some of the low income families back from saving better.
Lack of information on the importance of small savings
Most of the families had nominal monthly earning which they got at the end of every month.
The entire amount would be removed and would be dispensed in their monthly expenses.
An unexpected expense like the emergency hospitalization of a family member, or repair work in the house would force them to go into debt, that they will be paying off for a few years.
The candidate that made small savings and had multiple working members in the family were able to save more, plan their finances and live better.
Families which had multiple sources of income had better chances at saving and investing funds. They also had a wider network of people who could advise them in financial matters.
There aren't enough things in their environment that remind them of the idea of 'Future Planning' and small savings as the Education Level and understanding of most people in the neighborhood was almost the same.
“How might we encourage low income families to make small savings each month towards a larger financial goal?”
Possible Solutions
Education about making savings like:
A documentary film about short and long term financial planning
Flyers and handout documents encouraging saving
A physical product like a piggy bank to keep regular cash savings
Education about having a savings account in the bank, and education about compound interest
Project Takeaways
I was part of the brain storming for the questions we would ask, and for the analysis of the information we collected during the research. I helped to identify the spending pattern of the families that weren't able to save money and compared that with the saving and earning sources of the families that were able to save.
Small, regular savings made help to stay on track towards a financial goal
Needed to be communicate the value of small savings
Interview and research a topic with several social dependencies
Team
The team consisted of professionals from diverse backgrounds, that brought various skills and expertise to the table:
Nidheesh Vasu - Self Employed Design and Media Consultant
Subhashini Rajasekharan - Student at TISS, TATA Institute of Social Science
Shivam Agnihotri - Graphic Designer at Ogilvy and Mather
Yash Parikh - Engineering Student, familiar with field research
Nilomee Jesrani - Visual Communication Designer, familiar with field research