NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - A Call to Journalists: Stop Writing about Microfinance - Comments

Need for exploring REACH METHODOLOGIES

Babar Yousuf — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:13:20 -0400

Being a development consultant for a leading MFI in Pakistan I must say theres a lot of press out there but most of it is not really insightful to the seasoned MFI practictioner and quite repetative for the general reader. The language and explanation structure as well as terminology is the same so one article could very well be mistaken as part of any other article printed in the past. One of the really key and important areas that are never written about is REACH and Consumer Habits in the MFI sector. The biggest challange that an instiution or an outreach professional faces in the MFI market is to know more about the spending and perceptive habits of various MICRO sector end consumers and the most effective and creative ways to REACH them and also which media are better for the purpose etc. etc. I intend to write my own experiences in my sector based on that and I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in publishing that in any publication having significant readership.

newsletter on microfinance

vikash — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 01:45:01 -0400

It is our pleasure to issued third issue of our newsletter - INFO-MF,which is solely dedicated for microfinance and microenteprise sector. We got overwhelming response and immense support of organizations, practitioner, consultants and individuals across the world. This issue of newsletter is focus on microfinance and its importance for SMEs. In this respect we incorporated articles of renowned authors, practitioners, researcher and consultants. In the very first article, focus is laid down for importance of microfinance for SMEs growth. It would be very interesting and learningful to know the perspectives of practitioners; Mr. Jayseelan is bringing these experiences in front of us. World famous microfinance consultant and author Mr. Malcolm Harper, provoke a discussion among the reader about the relevance of federation. Our objective is to promote innovation in microfinance sector; Dr S.S.Satchidananda has developed a model for rural services delivery technology solution, we are incorporated this framework in our newsletter also. Small and medium enterprise development is considered a sustainable means for fighting against poverty that can ultimately fuel economic growth of a country, Mr. Parvinder Bhatia depicting some of the live examples in this respect. Apart from that we have put all very important recent development in microfinance. We have put effort make it more interesting and a good platform for sharing of learning. IF YOU WANT A FREE COPY OF "INFO-MF", WRTIE TO US . WITH YOUR NAME , DESIGNATION,TYPE OF JOB AND COUTRY. EMAIL ID – microfinancexpose@yahoo.com

I totally agree...that's why

Zehra — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 01:38:41 -0400

I totally agree...that's why at our microfinance bank in Pakistan we are introducing a financial literacy and customer advice center for our loan customers....not everyone knows how to improve their businesses and how to best use their loan....so we will have experts to advise our customers, should they need it....I should definately point out, though, that by and large the customers I have come across are totally clued in and very savvy/entreprenural experts!!! So don't underestimate them, either!

re microfinance and microfranchising

Rob Katz — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 16:44:58 -0400

Hi Naoko,

Thanks for your comment. I think it's important to understand that private sector-led development is, by definition, governed by business standards. That means there's always the risk that the business venture doesn't work out. Sounds simple, right? But...

...one challenge that development agencies and the public sector have with the "BOP hypothesis" and PS-led development is that they're not used to exclusion. What I mean is this: a traditional development program can work for anyone. But a private sector project can only work with effective businesspeople - franchisees, entrepreneurs - and as you rightly point out, not everyone fits the bill.

I'll save the rest of my comments for a future post.

microfinance coverage

_naokofelder — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 13:25:19 -0400

Hi Rob,

I couldn't agree more. Probablynow that more people are covering the subject it is likely that also the negative sides are likely to be reported. I have been promoting microfinance and microfinance investments to mainstream but now I have added microfranchising (even more powerful and effective) as not everyone is an entrepreneur (not in industrialized nations nor in developing countries)

Re: Microfinance evaluation

Rob Katz — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:31:40 -0400

Thanks Benoit - I would like to see your article when it comes out, do you mind sending us an e-mail (info AT nextbillion DOT net) when that happens? Maybe we can get a French-speaking colleague to translate for us. But I agree with your assessment that now is the age of microfinance evaluation. That's why the Mix Market and Prism are so useful.

The real thing is evaluation

Benoit Granger — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 06:26:54 -0400

You are right. The real pb todays is evaluation. Are we able to connect financial sucesses of microfinance with the social performance ? I have an article on "Global pereformance", a subject of contraversaries in the next Finance et Bien commun, a swiss review. Unfortunately in French !

Microfinance coverage

Rob Katz — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:12:10 -0400

Hi Anjali, thanks for your comment. I agree with you. I linked to Tyler Cowen's piece in the New York Times a few weeks back (actually, Dweep and I had some disagreement over it) that covered some of the "other side" of microfinance.

What's interesting to me in this space is that there's obviously a lot of people in the so-called mainstream that have never heard of microfinance, or at least their newspaper editors haven't, so we still get the intro stories. At the same time, the Western press isn't covering the non-glamorous side of it - when people actually default on their loans or are unable to put them to good use.

Chew on this: is everyone at the BOP going to be a successful entrepreneur? That's certainly not the case at the top, right? Why do we assume that just by giving someone a loan, they will become a good businessperson? Seems a bit like a stretch to me. Thanks again for your comment.

Microfinance

AK — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:50:02 -0400

I agree, most micro-finance articles have some kind of a feel good story about a rags to (relative) riches guy, but there needs to be more writing about the not so glorious side of microfinance (Indian newspapers fortunately give adequate coverage about this). For example, the large numbers farmers who are continuing to commit suicide because they have absolutely no means to pay back loans. What can be done to provide a systems-oriented solution to the farmers problem? And is his/her problem only about not being able to repay the loans? Or is it that he/ she lacks the means to manage that money? Or does he/she not have access to good quality seeds an therefore can't predict produce quality? Or is it that recurrent illhealth has rendered him/ her too weak to work efficiently? We need to see more examples like Kickstart and Xtrabikes whose business models are developed with a wholistic approach to wealth creation and sustainable growth. Anjali

A Call to Journalists: Stop Writing about Microfinance

Ethan Arpi — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 12:12:47 -0400

Everyone agrees that microfinance is the coolest thing since sliced bread. That’s why in the last two months we’ve seen it covered by the Financial Times, Reuters, The Globalist, The New York Times, The Economist, The LA Times, Business Week, CNN, and The Times of London. And in all likelihood there are other articles still hovering beneath our radar.

I must confess that at first I was excited to see the mainstream media weighing in on development issues affecting the base of the economic pyramid. I held the opinion that microfinance articles—no matter how repetitive and formulaic—attract publicity to an important cause that draws less attention than Paris Hilton’s latest sexcapade. But I’ve changed my mind.