Microfinance

Although a number of microfinance initiatives have improved financial inclusion in various regions of developing countries, the transferability of their foundations from one context to another is still a challenge. This study proposes an innovative process-based model targeting the initial stages of the transfer process that links three interconnected categories: local contextual conditions, transferring practices, and initial developmental consequences. The results were produced through a longitudinal study of the implementation of three community development banks on the periphery of Sao Paulo based on a highly successful Brazilian model known as Banco Palmas. In addition to the process-based model, our findings contribute to the microfinance and bottom of the pyramid (BOP) literatures, showing a cross-fertilization that has been insufficiently explored. Keywords bottom of the pyramid (BOP), community development bank, financial inclusion, microcredit, microfinance, process-based model, transferability

Microfinance institutions provide loans to low-income individuals. Their credit scoring systems, if they exist, are strictly financial. Although many institutions consider the
social and environmental impact of their loans, they do not incorporate formal systems to estimate these social and environmental impacts. This paper proposes that their creditworthiness evaluations should be coherent with their social mission and, accordingly, should estimate the social and environmental impact of microcredit. Thus, a decision support system to facilitate microcredit granting is proposed using a multicriteria evaluation. The assessment of social impact is performed by calculating the Social Net Present Value. The system captures credit officers’ experience and addresses incomplete and intangible information. The model has been tested in a microfinance institution. The paper shows how a small institution can include social and environmental issues in its decision-making systems to evaluate credit applications. A gap in the preferences was found between members of the
board, who are socially driven, and managers and credit officers, who are financially drifted. This mission drift was corrected. The approach followed contributed to creating a culture of social and environmental assessment within the institution, especially among credit officers, thereby translating Microfinance institutions’ social mission into numbers.

Besides the enormous attention paid to transformational leadership construct for the last four decades, much of the literature does not adequately delve deeper into the respective dimensions of the construct, thus limiting the clarity of how the dimensions impact organizations. This paper reviews the extant conceptual, theoretical, and empirical literature on the idealized influence and inspirational motivation dimensions of transformational leadership style focusing on microfinance context. This paper presents a comprehensive and integrative theoretical framework for knowledge advancement in the field of leadership. The methodology used for the review integrates the desktop and critical analysis of 56 journal articles in these dimensions. The key databases used to extract the relevant literature were JSTOR, Emerald, Google Scholar, DOAJ, and Wiley Interscience, with 69.09% being articles published in 2017-2021. Aspects used to qualify articles for review consideration were transformational leadership, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and leadership in microfinance or any combination. The emerging gaps in the theorization and conceptualization of idealized influence and inspirational motivation were identified, presenting a case for further research on the transformational leadership construct. The review establishes that the four "Is" of transformational leadership (Idealized influence, Inspirational motivation, Intellectual stimulation, and Individualized consideration) are ambiguously interrelated, presenting a challenge of incoherence in the conceptual models used by researchers to conduct empirical research. The study also seeks to fill the contextual gap on the scanty research done to date on the outcomes of idealized influence and inspirational motivation in microfinance context such as staff retention, organizational commitment, self-efficacy, and organizational performance. A comprehensive conceptual framework for guiding further research on the constructs is formulated, including supportive propositions that can be empirically tested.

Peer-to-peer microfinance connects philanthropic citizens with poor entrepreneurs in the developing world, offering new ways to channel charitable contributions. Although the literature suggests that donors’ perceptions of effectiveness affect charitable giving, very little is known about what types of projects individuals perceive as more effective. Using data from Kiva.org, this article presents evidence on the relative popularity of competing development projects. We present estimates of the impact of publicly visible project characteristics on funding speed. Assuming that Kiva lenders are motivated by poverty alleviation, the results shed light on individual philanthropists’ perception of project effectiveness. Knowing this can help practitioners design fundraising strategies more effectively, especially for projects that are inherently less popular. Le microcrédit pair-à-pair (P2P) connecte les citoyens philanthropes aux entrepreneurs pauvres dans le monde en voie de développement, proposant ainsi des manières nouvelles pour acheminer les dons caritatifs. Bien que les publications suggèrent que les perceptions par les donateurs concernant l’efficacité ont un impact sur les dons caritatifs, on en sait fort peu pour ce qui a trait aux types de projets perçus par les individus comme plus efficaces. Cet article, se basant sur des données issues du site Kiva.org, expose des éléments indicateurs de la popularité relative de projets de développement concurrents. Nous présentons des estimations de l’impact sur la rapidité du financement des caractéristiques d’un projet ayant une visibilité publique. Si l’on tient pour acquis que les prêteurs de Kiva ont pour motivation de réduire la pauvreté, les résultats apportent un éclairage sur la perception par les philanthropes de l’efficacité d’un projet. Cette connaissance est susceptible d’aider les intervenants à concevoir des stratégies de collecte de fonds plus efficaces, notamment pour des projets qui sont par nature moins populaires. Die Peer-to-Peer (P2P)-Mikrofinanzierung verbindet philanthrophische Bürger und mittellose Unternehmer in Entwicklungsländern und bietet neue Wege zur Einbringung wohltätiger Beiträge. Zwar lässt die Literatur darauf schließen, dass gemeinnützige Spenden davon abhängen, wie die Spender ihre Effektivität einschätzen, doch ist nur sehr wenig darüber bekannt, welche Projektarten einzelne Personen als effektiver betrachten. Mithilfe von Kiva.org erfassten Daten erbringt der vorliegende Beitrag den Nachweis über die relative Beliebtheit konkurrierender Entwicklungsprojekte. Wir schätzen den Einfluss öffentlich sichtbarer Projektmerkmale auf die Geschwindigkeit bei der Mittelbeschaffung ein. In der Annahme, dass Kiva-Geldgeber von einer angestrebten Armutsverminderung motivert werden, gaben die Ergebnisse Aufschluss über die Wahrnehmung individueller Philantropisten hinsichtlich der Projekteffektivität. Diese Kenntnis kann den Praktizierenden helfen, Strategien zur Mittelbeschaffung effektiver zu gestalten, insbesondere für Projekte, die von sich aus schon weniger beliebt sind. Las microfinanzas de igual a igual (P2P) conecta a los ciudadanos filantrópicos con los emprendedores pobres en el mundo en vías de desarrollo, ofreciendo nuevas formas de canalizar las aportaciones caritativas. Aunque el material publicado sugiere que las percepciones de los donantes sobre la efectividad afectan a las donaciones caritativas, se sabe muy poco sobre qué tipo de proyectos perciben los individuos como más efectivos. Utilizando datos de Kiva.org., este documento presenta pruebas sobre la relativa popularidad de proyectos de desarrollo que compiten. Presentamos estimaciones del impacto de las características de los proyectos visibles públicamente sobre la velocidad de financiación. Asumiendo que los prestamistas de Kiva están motivados por aliviar la pobreza, los resultados esclarecen la percepción de los filántropos individuales sobre la efectividad de los proyectos. Conocer esto puede ayudar a los profesionales a diseñar estrategias de recaudación de fondos de manera más efectiva, especialmente para proyectos que son inherentemente menos populares. 在发达国家,点对点(P2P)小额贷款是连接善心人士和贫困企业主的桥梁,是传递慈善捐款的新方法。有资料表明,捐赠人如何看待善款的使用效果,会影响他们捐赠的积极性,但对于捐款人认为哪些项目更富成效,我们所知甚少。本文利用 Kive.org 的资料,提出了相互竞争的发展项目较受欢迎的证据。我们估计了公开可见项目的自身特点对筹款速度的影响。假设 Kiva 的放款人是为了扶助贫困,则扶贫结果可以解释慈善人士对项目成效的看法。了解这一点有助于从业者设计出效果更佳的筹款策略,尤其是那些天生就不太受欢迎的项目。 ピアツーピア(P2P)マイクロファイナンスは、偽善的な貢献という新しい方法を提供して、慈善的な市民を開発途上国における貧しい企業家に結び付ける。文献では、援助資金供与者の有効的な認知が偽善活動の提供を決定づけるが、個人がどのようなプロジェクトを最も効果的であると認識しているかについてはほとんど知られていない。本論ではKiva.org(キヴァ)のデータを用いて、競合する開発計画に相対的に人気の高い論拠を提示する。資金調達の速度において公的に可視できるプロジェクトの特性が与える影響を予測して提示する。キヴァの金融業者が貧困救済に動機づけられていると仮定すると、結果として個々の慈善家がプロジェクトの有効性を認知していることが解明できる。これを知るとそれほど人気がないプロジェクトにおいても、実践者がより効果的に資金集めをする戦略策定に役立つといえる。 التمويل الأصغر النظير للنظير (P2P) يربط بين المواطنين المحسنين وأصحاب الأعمال الفقراء في العالم النامي، يقدم وسائل جديدة لتوجيه التبرعات الخيرية. على الرغم من أن الأدب يشير إلى أن تصورات المانحين يؤثر على فعالية العطاء الخيري، القليل جدا هو المعروف عن أنواع المشاريع التي يعتبرها الأفراد أكثر فعالية. بإستخدام بيانات من(Kiva.org)، فإن هذا البحث يقدم دليلاً على شعبية المشاريع الإنمائية المتنافسة. نقدم تقديرات لتأثير خصائص المشروع الظاهرةعلناً على سرعة التمويل.على إفتراض أن المقترضين من كيفا (Kiva) لهم دوافع التخفيف من حدة الفقر، النتائج تسلط الضوء على تصور الفرد المحسن لفعالية المشروع. معرفة هذا يمكن أن يساعد الممارسين أن يصمموا إستراتيجيات لجمع التبرعات على نحو أكثر فعالية، خصوصاً للمشاريع التي هي بطبيعتها أقل شعبية.

In recent years, millions of poor people worldwide have benefited
from microfinance activities, such as microcredit, microsaving and
microinsurance, making this range of financial services a key-tool for economic
growth of many developing countries. At the same time, the concept of
Sustainable Development (SD) has taken on an increasing importance in the
debate on economic growth and the environment. After exploring the
relationship between microfinance and SD in developing areas, this study
supports the view that microfinance institutions should implement policies that
aim both at making compatible the loans they provide with the environment
and at encouraging the diffusion of environmental awareness across borrowers.

In the decade since the 2008 global financial crisis, much of the debate has been over whom to blame: reckless speculative finance or irresponsible (often low-income) borrowers. This essay takes up this set of moral arguments about what the poor can and should be able to afford by examining subprime logics at a global scale: subprime empire. Predatory lending in heartland America and development-oriented microcredit in places such as India and Paraguay appear not just to be geographically disparate but also to have different moral valences. After closer inspection, however, we argue that subprime lending and microfinance are two sides of the same coin. Our analysis of microfinance allows us to understand what is happening in the "in-between" as capital flows between financial investors and poor borrowers. By comparing financialization in India and Paraguay, we document and theorize the making of subprime empires that rely on actors within marginal financial sites to stabilize the evaluative frameworks and social interdependencies that make profits flow. We argue that the forms of financial capture and conversion in the "financial inbetween" reproduce imperial dynamics by naturalizing the limited expectations of economic subjects of the global south and erasing the violence inherent in these forms of economic redistribution that maintain those expectations as such.