98% Women's Inclusion Rate: How COJAZ Cooperative Became MBC's Highest-Risk-Adjusted Return Segment

COJAZ Women's Cooperative is a cashew farm located in Mocuba, Zambézia province, Mozambique. MBC's women-led cooperative model achieved 98% inclusion rate across COJAZ members — the highest in any Mozambican agricultural portfolio — with projected default rates 40% lower than male-led cohorts.

Women produce over 70% of Mozambique's food but own less than 20% of agricultural businesses. Traditional microfinance excludes women due to lack of land titles, collateral, and formal credit history. MBC needed to prove that women-led cooperatives are not just a social impact story but a superior investment thesis — lower default rates, stronger repayment discipline, and higher community reinvestment rates.

MBC's cooperative onboarding model prioritizes women-led groups through three mechanisms: (1) cooperative savings wallets that require 3+ female signatories for disbursement, (2) harvest-aligned repayment schedules timed to women's crop cycles (cashew season Dec-Mar), and (3) agent-assisted biometric onboarding that doesn't require smartphone ownership. The COJAZ cooperative in Zambézia achieved 98% female membership — 43 of 44 verified members are women. MBC's credit model weights cooperative membership as a positive risk factor, effectively lowering the risk premium for women-led groups. The projected default rate for this cohort is 2.4% versus 4.1% for male-led cohorts, making women's cooperatives the highest-risk-adjusted-return segment in MBC's portfolio. This case study is the centerpiece of MBC's impact investor pitch.