Fast Cycle Learning
MSA’s unique learning platform that provides actionable insights and evidence-based data in real-time.
Fast Cycle Learning (FCL) is a learning platform that the MSA team has utilized across multiple countries and sectors to help partnering firms and implementation teams make efficient and evidence-based decisions. Recognized as an effective tool for market actors’ learning, it enables rapid and data-driven decision making through the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in real-time.
- Discover critical factors for business model success such as customer uptake, satisfaction, and repeat sales to help adapt the launch and scale-up of new products and services.
- Generate cost-effective insight into complex topics with rapid data insights and collection, including benchmarks against similar cases that reveal insights on comparative performance.
- Uncover and measure elements of systems change over time, using early indicators of success to guide decisions and evidence of sustained changes as programs mature.
FCL Approach
FCL comprises of four phases (outlined below) that help teams quickly identify practical insights, behavior changes, and comparisons that impact their customers and stakeholders.
FCL in Action
MSA has applied Fast Cycle Learning with companies in Uganda, Rwanda, Liberia, Mozambique, and Malawi. Our clients and partners have used FCL to deliver impactful change in the agricultural and financial sectors, among others.
For example, MSA incorporated FCL into the Inclusive Agricultural Markets Activity, led by DAI, to help fintech and agricultural input companies understand their customers’ journeys and improve their experiences. Patasente—a digital trade service company that participated in FCL—continues to experience significant impacts and ripple effects from the learning platform. Insights from FCL identified that more logistical support was needed for aggregators and traders, leading to the development of the Patasente Digital Platform. Through platform upgrades, Patasente also introduced a commodity banking feature tailored to milk aggregators and farmers, thereby expanding its customer base and capabilities.
