60 Decibels

60 Decibels leverages the power of mobile technology to communicate directly with low-income customers and beneficiaries, collecting high-quality impact data efficiently and at a fraction of the time of traditional approaches.Using low-touch reasearch methods, 60 Decibels puts the voice of the customer at the center of impact measurement to help social businesses better serve their customers and investors make better informed investment decisions.In 2019, Ceniarth helped lead the spin out of 60 Decibels from Acumen where it had been incubated. It has long been our belief that the best way for us to assess the genuine impact of our work on the ground is to be in direct dialogue with beneficiaries and end-customers. 60 Decibels ability to leverage a network of 850+ researchers across 70 countries has allowed us to build a clearer picture of those ultimate impacts. We have previously engaged them on a diverse set of projects ranging from an assessment of our investees focused on smallholder agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa to an evaluation of the efficacy of Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans on small business recovery in the United States. Our most recent initiative with 60 Decibels is the creation of a global financial inclusion index for the microfinance (MFI) industry. As an investor in various MFI investment vehicles (MIVs), as well a direct lender to individual MFIs, we are keenly interested in refining our view of impact in the sector and in seeking ways to differentiate organizations based on the demographics of communities served and the type of economic and livelihood benefits achieved.