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Front Matter, Journal Of Microfinance
Front Matter, Journal Of Microfinance
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
No abstract provided.
Banking On Customer Loyalty, Craig Churchill
Banking On Customer Loyalty, Craig Churchill
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Enhancing customer loyalty is a microfinance institution's most important business strategy. Every critical element involved in managing microfinance operations--from product pricing to staff incentives, from marketing to eligibility requirements, from client screening to the menu of available services--can (and should) be formulated to promote loyalty. While most MFIs recognize the importance of client retention, few have designed business strategies to maximize customer loyalty. Hopefully that will change. This article details the economic impact that customer loyalty has on a microfinance institution (and the negative effect of desertion).
Replication: Regressive Reproduction Or Progressive Evolution?, Graham Wright
Replication: Regressive Reproduction Or Progressive Evolution?, Graham Wright
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Increasing numbers of organizations are "replicating" the programs of successful microfinance institutions (MFIs). This approach allows rapid start-up using tested models and systems. These strengths are also weaknesses, though, since the models being replicated usually require substantial modifications to make them appropriate for local conditions. Furthermore, close adherence to "blueprints" is likely to substitute for careful research into the needs and opportunities for the provision of financial services to the poor--and thus the design of appropriate systems. Replication also risks the suppression of innovative ways of providing still better financial services--particularly when promoted by powerful apex funding organizations, as is …
Credit Scoring For Microfinance: Can It Work?, Mark Schreiner
Credit Scoring For Microfinance: Can It Work?, Mark Schreiner
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
In rich countries, lenders often rely on credit scoring--formulae to predict risk based on the performance of past loans with characteristics similar to current loans--to inform decisions. Can credit scoring do the same for microfinance lenders in poor countries? This paper argues that scoring does have a place in microfinance. Although scoring is less powerful in poor countries than in rich countries, and although scoring will not replace the personal knowledge of character of loan officers or of loan groups, scoring can improve estimates of risk. Thus, scoring complements--but does not replace--current microfinance technologies. Furthermore, the derivation of the scoring …
Microfinance In The United States: The Working Capital Experience— Ten Years Of Lending And Learning, Jeffrey Ashe
Microfinance In The United States: The Working Capital Experience— Ten Years Of Lending And Learning, Jeffrey Ashe
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Working Capital is the United States' largest peer-group lending program. This article reviews what Working Capital has learned about the market, its customers, program impact, and service delivery over its ten year history. It presents a model for understanding how participating in peer lending groups develops “social and economic capital” in poor communities. The article then discusses how participants judge the group model as they identify the characteristics of successful groups and the impact of the group on their businesses, on themselves personally, and on the larger community. The rest of the article discusses how Working Capital evolved from a …
Book Review- Microfinance And Poverty: Questioning The Conventional Wisdom By Hege Gulli, Lisa M. Jones
Book Review- Microfinance And Poverty: Questioning The Conventional Wisdom By Hege Gulli, Lisa M. Jones
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
No abstract provided.
Moving Microenterprises Beyond A Subsistence Plateau, Beth C. Haynes, Kristie K. Seawright, William C. Giauque
Moving Microenterprises Beyond A Subsistence Plateau, Beth C. Haynes, Kristie K. Seawright, William C. Giauque
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Enthusiasm for microcredit programs has increased during the past decade. The attention these programs have drawn stems philosophically from progress in cultivating self-sufficiency among those in abject poverty, and practically from the viability and high loan repayment rates of many microfinance institutions. The programs assume that lack of capital is the main barrier to the economic progress of the poor. The lack of entrepreneur business management experience and training, however, may create a barrier equally powerful and limit the growth potential of microenterprises. Microcredit programs could foster even greater economic progress by ensuring that clients receive appropriate human capital development. …
Impact Assessment Of Microfinance And Organizational Learning: Who Will Survive?, James G. Copestake
Impact Assessment Of Microfinance And Organizational Learning: Who Will Survive?, James G. Copestake
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
To what extent is it possible for organizations to reflect honestly on their own performance, draw appropriate conclusions, and then act on them? For many microfinance organizations this is now a question of survival. This paper argues that formal impact assessment can assist in the transition from donor-controlled replication projects to autonomous and adaptable organizations--but it often fails to do so. Pitfalls include inadequate attention to methodological detail and to the links between impact assessment and wider aspects of organizational change. The paper starts by highlighting the complexity of the overall task to which impact assessment is expected to contribute. …
Vol. 02 No. 2 Journal Of Microfinance, Journal Of Microfinance
Vol. 02 No. 2 Journal Of Microfinance, Journal Of Microfinance
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
No abstract provided.
Capital Enhancement Guarantees And Risk Management By Capital-Constrained Lenders, J.D. Von-Pischke
Capital Enhancement Guarantees And Risk Management By Capital-Constrained Lenders, J.D. Von-Pischke
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Commercial lenders require capital to bear risk. The capital enhancement guarantee (CEG) encourages lenders to make loans they would not otherwise make, such as microenterprise loans. The CEG is auctioned and awarded to bidders who promise the greatest amount of new lending for a given increment of permanent capital. Whether the incremental lending causes losses or gains for the lender, the incremental capital is free. The CEG subsidizes innovation in risk management. It places the analytical focus on risk and its cost, supports the key party to the lending decision, promotes skill in managing risk, is transparent, minimizes moral hazard, …
The Cbn As A Catalyst To National Economic Policy And Development., J. O. Sanusi
The Cbn As A Catalyst To National Economic Policy And Development., J. O. Sanusi
Bullion
The paper examined the activities of the Bank into perspectives, particularly with the often-mis-construed belief the CBN should be held accountable for all the woes of the Nigerian economy. It also reviewed and appraised the performance of the CBN in the effort to meet its statutory mandate and adapt to the circumstances of the new global trend in Central Banking in which the maintenance of price stability supercedes all other objectives of monetary policy. The challenges facing the Bank are enormous, but not insurmountable. Efforts are already being made to confront these challenges. The instrument autonomy recently granted to the …
Commodities Taxes/Levies And Their Effects On Commodity Trade And Movements In Nigeria., Joe Alegieuno, A O. Balogun
Commodities Taxes/Levies And Their Effects On Commodity Trade And Movements In Nigeria., Joe Alegieuno, A O. Balogun
Bullion
The Commodity Boards were noted for paying farmers prices that were lower than the world prices and sometimes even lower than their production costs. This difference represented implicit taxation of farm incomes and served as a dis-incentive to domestic production. This paper examines the administration of commodity taxes/levies and their effect on commodity trading in Nigeria as well as assessing the various systems of commodity marketing in Nigeria. The paper concludes that Commodity trade, in Nigeria began with the British companies exporting raw materials to their industries abroad. His was followed by the Commodity/Marketing Board era and finally trade liberation. …
Monetary And Financial Sector Policies In The Year 2000 Budget Of The Fgn, M. O. Ojo
Monetary And Financial Sector Policies In The Year 2000 Budget Of The Fgn, M. O. Ojo
Bullion
The paper attempts to review the monetary and financial sector policies of CBN during the 2000 fiscal year. It also discussed the issues and problems of implementation of the policies. The paper observes that the Nigerian economy witnessed some anxious moments during the 1999 fiscal year. Severe Pressures built-up in the economy mainly because of the expansionary fiscal policy of the Federal Government during the first five months of the year. lf price of oil in the international market continue to rise above budget expectations and expenditure does not rise in tandem, finance is likely to constrain achievement of most …
The Performance Of The 1999 Federal Government Budget, An Appraisal, Edet B. Akpankpan
The Performance Of The 1999 Federal Government Budget, An Appraisal, Edet B. Akpankpan
Bullion
The annual budget is a key instrument for implementation of Government projects, programmes and policies. This paper attempts to explain the fact that the annual budget serves three important purposes, namely; as a tool for accountability and transparency; as a tool of management, and as an instrument of economic policy. The paper conclude that Despite the macrocosmic achievement of this, Administration, basic structural imbalances persist. These include the lingering problems of import dependence, reliance on a single economic sector-oil, weak industrial base, low level of agricultural production, a weak Private sector, high external debt overhang, inefficient public utilities, low quality …
Real Sector Policy Measures In The Year 2000 Budget And Sector Performance Appraisal, Isa Yuguda
Real Sector Policy Measures In The Year 2000 Budget And Sector Performance Appraisal, Isa Yuguda
Bullion
The article attempts to give the major thrust of the 2000 Budget, itemize the strategies for achievement as well as assessing the real sector performance from January- June 2000. The author noted that the It is important to mention that the year 2000 Budget was conceptualised within the framework of the overall projected economic policy targets of Government up to 2003. ln this regard, it is expected that the provisions of the budget will run in line with such set targets which include, GDP growth rate of 10%, single digit inflation, 70% employment (formal & informal), household access to electricity …
Remarks On The Focus Of The Policy Seminar., Mike Kwanashie
Remarks On The Focus Of The Policy Seminar., Mike Kwanashie
Bullion
The remarked was delivered at a seminar on the implementation of Year 2000 budget.
In Search Of "Sound Practices" For Microfinance, Christopher Dunford
In Search Of "Sound Practices" For Microfinance, Christopher Dunford
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
The notion of "best practices" for all microfinance is challenged in favor of "sound practices" that are appropriate for particular organizational strategies and situations. A simple conceptual framework is offered to facilitate understanding of the current diversity of experiments with product-market pairs (e.g., group-based lending to poor women struggling to earn enough for family survival). Since the microfinance movement is still in a mode of intensive learning, we should not presume too soon what will be "best" for all product-market pairs. We can expect to discover a somewhat different set of sound practices for each distinct product-market pair.
Predicting Financial Sources For The Lodging Industry, A.J. Singh
Predicting Financial Sources For The Lodging Industry, A.J. Singh
Hospitality Review
Given the various changes that have occurred in the financing of the lodging industry, investors and developers interested in the industry are concerned about future sources of capital and the terms at which they will be available. This article presents results of a Delphi study which illustrates the extent to which individual financial institutions are expected to provide capital to the lodging industry and looks at terms and criteria used to make loans.