• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.18-24
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• 2016

Delivery of microfinance services to operators of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is increasingly being viewed as a strategic means of assisting growth and development. The purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of microfinance to entrepreneurship development in Mogadishu. Survey research design was adopted and Primary data was collected by using questionnaires. This research study used purposive sampling method to select 120 respondents; but 108 were found usable and analyzed. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. This study found the access of microfinance services to the SMEs is poor. This study also found due to the collateral, short term repayment challenges, small and medium businesses are difficult to access loan from microfinance institutions which hinder their entrepreneurship development. In addition to these, this study found that the Microfinance institutions play significance role to the growth and sustainable development of SMEs and also increases the productivity and profitability of small and medium enterprises. This study recommends the guidelines of microfinance institutions to finance SMEs needs to be flexible and microfinance institutions should give technical assistant to the SME to ensure success in the SME sector. The study also suggests access of microfinance services to the SMEs should be facilitated and awareness to microfinance purposes and activities should be created.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.117-126
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• 2021

Microfinance focuses on economic development at a minute level. Microfinance is adopted to reduce the poverty level in the economic system. This study is conducted to investigate the microfinance institutions' outreach, its growth, and challenges faced by the Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). Data is collected from MFBs and MFIs working in Muzaffarabad as well as from interviews and focus group discussions. Findings are based upon lending, headcount ratio, offers, the value of their offer, and the possible growth chances of microfinance in Muzaffarabad. In addition to this, the challenges associated with microfinance outreach have been highlighted during analysis and guidelines have been provided to the MFBs and MFIs to increase their outreach. The sector is financially unstable which is attributable to its reliance on conventional sources of funding. The industry faces several endogenous as well as exogenous challenges from its environment which obstructs its growth. Further, it helps the policymakers to work on the development of the region and provide the base for further future research work.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.21-31
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• 2016

Although the microfinance sector in Bangladesh is mainly driven by Non-Governmental-Organizations (NGOs), there are other types of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) that also provide financial services to the poor. Despite the criticism of microfinance programs, the current poverty situation in Bangladesh still requires such programs for consistently battling poverty. Hence, the aim of this paper is to profile the microfinance sector based on their legal status and investigate any possible differences (if any) between them in various aspects. After a thorough investigation of the sector, it was found that around 33 million of the clients are being served by the mainstream MFIs (NGO and Grameen Bank) while another 10-15 million clients are served by other types of MFIs (financial cooperatives, credit unions, various ministries etc.), accounting for the one-third of the total population in Bangladesh. While the mainstream MFIs basically works with poor, other categories of MFIs are concerned with relatively wealthy clients. Looking into the financial performance and social intermediation of the MFIs, the NGO-MFIs performed better than other types of MFIs in the sector.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.31-38
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• 2017

Purpose - While microfinance institutions(MFIs) from Bangladesh, such as Grameen Bank, received worldwide recognition and the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, however, there is a paucity of research that provided a comprehensive discussion on the characteristics of the microfinance industry. Hence, the aim of this paper is to discuss some important aspects of the microfinance sector in Bangladesh. Research design, data, and methodology - This study used secondary sources of data, such as annual reports of the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) and the World Bank database in its descriptive analysis. Results - This study found that Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in her socio-economic and economic development in the last few decades. It is also generally perceived that microfinance has placed significant contribution on such socio-economic development. While microfinance observed unprecedented growth domestically, however, the regulatory framework is still rather weak, and a majority of the MFIs are found to be concentrated in the well-off areas (e.g., Dhaka, Chittagong etc.). Conclusions - The findings are significantly important for the parties who are interested to know the microfinance sector in Bangladesh. To some extent, the findings of this study will provide policy implications that may benefit the industry.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.13-22
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• 2020

Purpose: Vietnam's financial sector has grown substantially but microfinance institutions (MFIs) still face up many challenges in providing financial services to underserved customer segments, including small businesses, rural populations, and urban migrants. The recent worldwide explosion of fintech, including in Vietnam, promises to fill this gap. The purpose of this paper is to analyze fintech activities in microfinance sector and recommend for fintech adoption of MFIs in Vietnam. Research Design, Data and Methodology: The paper's data is mainly based on international organizations such as Asia Development Bank (ADB), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Vietnamese organizations such as Vietnam Microfinance Working Group. The authors suggest new directions for microfinance activities in Vietnam. Results: In recent years, the application of fintech in microfinance sector has brought many good results, such as improving the quality of products and services, easy access to many customer groups, and scaling up the operating model. Conclusion: MFIs in Vietnam have developed new products and services by applying fintech. The application of technology and digital solution has supported MFIs in Vietnam to gradually achieve targeted growth through expanding geographical inclusion/scale, enhancing product supply/provision, helping in-depth customer understanding as well as improving operational efficiency.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.5-13
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• 2014

The purpose of this paper is to carry out an empirical analysis of the link that exists between microfinance and poverty alleviation. The analysis is driven by literature searches on empirical works done by different researchers in different contexts. Qualitative research methodology was adopted, following a desktop approach. An empirical literature review took a centre stage in this investigation. An analysis of empirical works shows that microfinance enhances poverty alleviation despite the challenges such as the Indian Andhra Pradesh crisis. The paper is limited to a review of empirical sources of literature. A field survey, supported by an econometric analysis would have helped to generate robust results. This paper attempts to bring together the empirical works that were done in different contexts to shed light on the important relationship between microfinance and poverty. Many research works on microfinance depend upon personal anecdotes, thus this present paper attempts to compile the scattered empirical findings on microfinance and poverty alleviation.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.39-50
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• 2021

We investigate competition and its impact on borrowers' indebtedness (BI) in South Asian microfinance. Our empirical investigations are based on a comprehensive panel dataset of 355 MFIs located in seven countries in South Asia. The empirical results revealed that microfinance in South Asia is imperfectly competitive and the existing industry shows a monopolistic competition during the period under consideration. Also, the competition increased after the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2007-08 which implies that microfinance uses hostile lending behavior through the adverse selection that is highly risky and it can induce repayment crisis. The empirical findings also show that increased competition has significant negative effects on borrowers' indebtedness, particularly in large-scale and regulated microfinance organizations (MFIs). Instead of using equity financing, debt financing could be a better option. Finally, we find that while competition seems to have some positive effects in economic discourse by channeling technological improvements in products and services, its negative effects in microfinance outweigh the benefits over costs, particularly in poverty-stricken nations. The findings are helpful for the policymakers, microfinance industry, investors, borrowers, and Central Bank of South Asian markets.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between portfolio quality and financial sustainability of microfinance institutions in Kenya. Research Design, Data, and Methodology: The analysis was based on a panel dataset of 30 microfinance institutions for the period of 2010 to 2018. Data was obtained from the Microfinance information exchange (MIX) database, and it was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of STATA. Based on the results of the Hausman test, the study adopted the fixed effect regression model to test the research hypothesis. Results: The study found that portfolio quality had a positive significant effect on financial sustainability of Microfinance institutions in Kenya (β= 0. 211; p-value < 0.05). For the control variables; firm age had a positive effect (β= 0.773; p-value <0.05), while firm size (β= -0. 749; p-value < 0.05) had a negative effect on financial sustainability. Conclusions: The study concluded that portfolio quality has an important influence on the financial sustainability of microfinance institution. The study recommends that managers of microfinance institutions should devise good collection policies to improve portfolio quality while lessening loan default rate. The portfolio quality may improve the overall profitability and enhance investor confidence in their strategic decision-making on refinancing.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1147-1154
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• 2021

The study aimed to investigate the impact of the microfinance program on loan borrowers' asset accumulation. In doing this, the study used descriptive and statistical methods to achieve the objectives. Primary data were collected from 192 respondents from Bangladesh using survey questionnaires. The data were analyzed using the multiple linear regression model. The result revealed that the majority of the borrowers said their assets such as farm, land, and livestock remained the same, which implies that microfinance borrowers still lag behind accumulating household assets. However, in the case of housing conditions and household appliances, there was a marginal increase. The regression result provides evidence that, among other factors, the amount of loan received from microfinance institutions and time duration with them is the most significant role-playing factor for borrower's sustainable well-being. The age and education level of borrowers are identified as positively related to asset accumulations, but not substantially so. Moreover, training provided by microfinance institutions is not effective and influential for microfinance borrowers' wealth accumulation, which is evidenced by the findings. This study's insights are worthwhile for any microfinance institution's decision-makers, development partners, and government to stress the shortcomings and accelerate the borrower's wealth status.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.821-832
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• 2021

Economic deprivation of households remains a significant economic issue in the world. Researchers have shown great concern in identifying crucial factors to enhance poor households' socio-economic performance. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a new conceptual framework to investigate the influence of different microfinance services on households' socioeconomic performance using moderated mediation analysis of various crucial factors. Focus-group interviews with managements of the microfinance institution, i.e. Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), and a systematic literature review were conducted for this purpose, and a new framework for the future study has been developed. The result from focus-group interviews and systematic literature review propose microfinance financial services, training programs, and business coaching as independent factors, whereas household socioeconomic performance as a dependent factor in the proposed model. Specifically, this study provides the direction to scholars to empirically test the direct relationship between financial services and household socioeconomic performance and the indirect relationship between training programs, business coaching, and household socioeconomic performance. Further, microfinance institutions' service efficiency is also included as a moderator that can strengthen microfinance services' effectiveness. The study also provides useful implications for policymakers, financial institutions, households, micro-enterprises, and researchers to better understand microfinance interventions and household economic mechanisms.