Purpose of IMFN to gather IM Organizations under One Platform – Amjad Saqib, Executive Director, Akhuwat (Lahore, Pakistan) For the rising trend of Islamic microfinance (IM) all over the world, Islamic Microfinance Network (IMFN) has been established to assemble international IM organizations under one platform. The head office is formed in Lahore, Pakistan, therefore its [...]
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This is a guest post submitted by Grace Ruskin. Microfinance refers to a wide variety of financial services that are provided to people belonging to the low-income group, especially women. Clients of microfinance institutions or MFIs have low income and have limited access to financial services. For such low income people, microfinance loans provide small [...]
The Smart Campaign recently celebrated its 750th endorsement from participants in the microfinance sector. The campaign was initiated to promote the concept of consumer protection as reports of aggressive debt collection practices, deceptive advertising of loan terms, and severe multiple borrowing emerged across various regions. Low levels of exposure and education contribute to the vulnerability [...]
Submitted by Kelsey Dunn from Kiva. In partnership with Dermalogica and strategic partners, today Kiva.org is launching joinFITE.org to provide microloans to women entrepreneurs in low-income regions of the United States and 56 other countries. A novel aspect of the campaign is its engagement of retail consumers as microlenders. Dermalogica, for example, will contribute $1 [...]
Here is a recent study about the impact of mobile banking on the GDP. The paper is titled, ‘The mobile money movement – Catalyst to Jumpstart Emerging Markets’, and is authored by Menekse Gencer from MPayConnect. M-Pesa is used as a casestudy to evaluate the macro economic impact of mobile money solutions, and also looks [...]
Among other benefits, self-help groups help the cause of women empowerment, as other microfinance tools do. The fact that most self-help groups are composed of women, in itself, is important because it shows women in developing countries are taking financial matters into their own hands and are attempting to improve their livelihoods via increased access [...]
Read part 1 of Challenges Faced by Self Help Groups (Solved by Formalizing this Microfinance Model). 3. Lack of capital The loan requirement of the self-help group may easily exceed the pool of funds generated through savings from group members, especially considering money lost through bad debts. SHGs may need access to funds from external [...]
Self-help Groups are a popular microfinance model that largely operates in the informal sector. A group of individuals come together to form a savings and credit group, and they are often bound together by nothing but a social contract. This structure can offer advantages (such as easy of setup and administration) but also exposes self-help [...]
