Digital Financial Inclusion and Household Resilience
- Digital finance and access to microcredit for entrepreneurs with disabilities
John Peter Rwema, MBA
Research Portfolio
My doctoral work, research assistantship, and applied studies draw on my experience in financial inclusion, institutional development, and management.
Doctoral research
I am a doctoral student admitted to the PhD in Management Studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
Digital financial inclusion and household resilience in Rwanda
My research asks how households use digital financial services and under what conditions those services help them manage everyday expenses and recover from financial setbacks.
- How access to mobile money and other digital financial services translates into regular use.
- How financial capability, trust, affordability, and service quality shape how households use those services.
- How digital financial services can help households save, manage expenses, and cope with unexpected costs.
Research assistantship and research agenda
I work as a research assistant under Prof. George Okello. Our research agenda is organized around five themes.
Financial Literacy, Consumer Protection and Responsible Finance
- Digital consumer complaints, agent credibility and sustainable digital financial inclusion
Savings Groups, Cooperative Finance and Governance
- Savings behaviour, financial learning and participation in village savings and loan associations
- Bank linkages, fintech and access for village savings and loan associations
- Governance, collective action and financial resilience in village savings groups
Inclusive Enterprise Finance and Access to Credit
- Financial education, agent banking and sustainability of informal women-led agri-MSMEs
Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Enterprise
- Crowdfunding, community networks and digital infrastructure for social startups
- Public financial assistance, digital payments, governance and MSME sustainability
Papers, projects and manuscripts
Financial inclusion, financial capability and resilience
- From Digital Access to Financial Resilience: Meaningful Digital Financial Inclusion in Rwanda, 2016–2024 — research manuscript and framework development (MDFICF).
- Digital Financial Services and Women’s Financial Inclusion — working paper on a Rwandan microfinance institution, Duterimbere IMF.
- Financial Education in Rwanda — working paper on financial capability and savings behaviour.
Microfinance, responsible lending and cooperative finance
- From Social Performance Management to ESG in Rwanda, 2015–2025 — research manuscript.
- Cash-Flow-Based Lending — manuscript on credit assessment and enterprise finance.
- Non-performing Loans and Digital Capabilities — undergraduate research, Uganda Martyrs University, 2016.
- Microfinance benchmarking in Rwanda — applied sector research developed through my professional work at AMIR.
Institutional development and organizational sustainability
- Institutional Entrepreneurship and the Role of Microfinance Apex Organizations: The Case of AMIR — research manuscript.
- Institutional Sustainability and Resource Mobilization in Microfinance Apex Organizations — working paper using AMIR as a case.
- RT³ and ODASE — applied frameworks for organizational resilience, diagnosis and sustainability.
AI, consulting and digital business
- AI, Consulting and the Future — independent research monograph and C100 comparative study.
- Generative AI and the Reconfiguration of Competitive Advantage in Management Consulting — working manuscript and RVR-CR conceptual framework.
- International Trade and Digital Business Platforms: The Alibaba Model of Doing Business — MBA research project, Oklahoma Christian University, 2024.
Research-based books and manuscripts
- Beyond Financial Inclusion — book manuscript on digital access, meaningful use and financial resilience.
- Beyond Digital Access — book manuscript on how digital life shapes newcomer integration and well-being.
- Beyond Donor Dependence — book project on organizational sustainability, governance and revenue diversification.
Research approach
I draw on case studies, literature reviews, secondary data, and conceptual modelling. The catalogue distinguishes degree research, working papers, frameworks, and book manuscripts.
Discuss a research collaboration