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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 11, No. 9

Publication Date: September 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/abr.119.15439.

Bosu, C. (2023). Impact of Microfinance on Women’s Entrepreneurship. Archives of Business Research, 11(9). 01-11.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Impact of Microfinance on Women’s Entrepreneurship

Champa Bosu

European Microfinance Program, The University Libre Brussels, Belgium

& 35th Bangladesh Civil Service (Education), Government of Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Microfinance (MF) and its institution’s contribution to poverty reduction,

alleviation, and eradication through entrepreneurship has been a debatable issue

until now. Especially some controversial roles of the traditional microfinance

institutions in different ‘global south’ countries made the situation even more

complicated and problematic. Some recent scientific studies and global media

reports against the role of microfinance in reducing poverty have given us some

space for thoughts on the role of traditional microfinance institutions in

entrepreneurship development among rural women. However, many scientific

studies and media reports have claimed that microfinance contributes to a

reduction in poverty through entrepreneurship by traditional microfinance

institutions or commercial banks. However, it is unclear if MF is the most efficient

way to reduce poverty without the help of other additional procedures among the

poverty-stricken people or areas such as education, politics, health, infrastructure,

etc. In the current paper, a critical observation has been made on the roles of

microfinance in entrepreneurship development among poor, marginalized women.

A literature survey has been made using different sources, such as academic

databases, media reports, I/NGO reports, etc. It was found that some of the women

who have received loans through microcredit or microfinance institutions used the

money for consumption; however, most of the women recipients used the loan for

their entrepreneurial activities or businesses to change their financial condition

and have successfully brought financial sustainability.

Keywords: Microfinance, Entrepreneurship, NGO, Commercial Banks, Credit

INTRODUCTION

Microfinance is not only contributing towards the poverty reduction, alleviation, and

eradication. Likewise, the MF is also working as a powerful instrument for empowerment of the

women from the marginal part of the respective society through entrepreneurships. The

current paper is an attempt to explore the impact of MF on the women entrepreneurship.

The debate over Microfinance (MF) is never-ending, and it has become a powerful means to

alleviate poverty. In addition, it is also an influential instrument for women’s empowerment in

the global south (Mengstie and Singh, 2020). However, poor people have less access to credit,

so they cannot work their way out of poverty using the help of credit; instead, they work on

menial jobs with menial income and live in the vicious cycle of poverty for generations after

generations (Sihag, 2018). In this fourth industrial revolution, there is no space for work

discrimination as working from home is a new reality, so beyond the location of the individual,

people can work for any institution in the world. This is why the new small and medium start-

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ups are making their mark in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, and in this race, women

are not lagging (Swapna, 2017; Nawaz, Muhammad Ramzan and Shahid, 2021). Because in

these days, it is believed that women can change the world as entrepreneurs, and it has been

proven that they are doing it with their male counterparts. In this regard, Microfinance helps to

foster women’s entrepreneurship (Tenagne, 2019).

Microfinance also increases women's economic security, ultimately increasing the success rate

of women’s entrepreneurship. Women entrepreneurs start businesses by taking loans from

MFIs, and most of the global South's poor don’t have access to capital or resources. In this case,

microfinance institutions create excellent opportunities for women entrepreneurs (Rahman,

Khanam and Nghiem, 2017). The government and NGOs have worked together for the last few

decades to eradicate poverty. For this, they have devised different projects and programs for

sustainable development. Providing credit to women entrepreneurs has become more fruitful

among many projects and programs to alleviate poverty. Poor women don’t have capital or

collateral to gain credit from formal financial institutions, which is where microfinance

institutions provide loans to entrepreneurs (ibid). The government institutions and the NGOs

have worked successfully in collaboration with the MFIs to help the women of the global south

to reduce the vicious cycle of poverty and to support them to become successful women

entrepreneurs (Nawaz, Muhammad Ramzan and Shahid, 2021).

Women are crucial in alleviating poverty in developing countries, especially in the global south.

Women’s empowerment is essential for women’s entrepreneurship development in developing

countries because, in any given country, women are half of the total labor force. Without the

development of women, the country's overall development cannot be achieved (Agenda for

Sustainable Development, 2018). Women entrepreneurs can create jobs not only for

themselves but also for others. Women entrepreneurs play a remarkable role in different

sectors like restaurants, hotels, industries, education, and other sectors. Microfinance

institutions aim to empower small and medium women entrepreneurs by creating social

capital, providing credit, and providing skill development training. In the economic

development of any specific country, there is a big role from the small and medium

entrepreneurs (Sihag, 2018). In the current paper, we will explore the significant impact of

microfinance on women entrepreneurship, both positive and negative, what are the significant

challenges ahead of the women entrepreneurs in the global south who use microfinance as their

way to crawling out of poverty. This study is based on secondary data only.

BACKGROUND OF MICROFINANCE AND WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Both microfinance and microcredit are interchangeably used, however theoretically they have

their own line of differences. Microfinance is the holistic financial product used by formal

financial institutions but in microformat; on the other hand, microcredit is the one product from

microfinance that provides loans and credit to the poor and vulnerable in society (Rahman,

Khanam and Nghiem, 2017). It has been more than four decades since women receive help from

MFIs through microcredit and capacity-building training to improve their entrepreneurship

skill development. There is no doubt that microfinance helps women become successful

entrepreneurs, especially those in the vicious cycle of poverty. The following figure shows how

microfinance helps women’s entrepreneurship and women’s development.

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Figure 2: Process of MF to Women Entrepreneurship Development Source: Adopted by the

author

From the above figure, we can speculate that with the products from microfinance (credit,

savings, insurance, etc.), given the opportunity with substantial risks, women entrepreneurs

can achieve the goals of net profit, investment, empowerment, etc. It also displays in the above

figure that microfinance provides financial and non-financial services, such as social capital and

training type of products that eventually help women entrepreneurs succeed in their

enterprises (Tenagne, 2019). However, microfinance also can lead to a burden for many

entrepreneurs as many of the non-entrepreneurial returns to credit, so people use the credit

for consumption instead using it for entrepreneurial investments (Rahman, Khanam and

Nghiem, 2017; J-PAL, 2018). Nevertheless, there will be challenges to entrepreneurial

enterprise success. Still, the MFIs will have to develop innovative ideas, such as finding high- return entrepreneurial investments (J-PAL, 2018) for poor women entrepreneurs to use the

money for successful business enterprises and make their way out of poverty.

Definition of Key Concepts

Microfinance means providing financial services like microcredit, micro-savings, and

microinsurance to low-income people deprived of the traditional banking sector. Microfinance

is about the finance of poor and unbanked people without access to formal financial institutions

(Tariq and Sangmi, 2020). Microfinance is a potent tool for developing and least developed

countries from the global south because it provides services to low-income people, especially

women. The working areas of MF are developing countries in South Asia, Africa, and Latin

American countries. MF provides a small-scale loan to borrowers who have no collateral. World

bank estimates that MF provides services to more than 500 million people (Swapna, 2017;

Nawaz, Muhammad Ramzan and Shahid, 2021). But most MF institutions focus on the women,

vulnerable, and marginalized populations of any given society as these institutions specialize

in developing the poor population.

Financial Inclusion means providing equal opportunities to all the members of society beyond

their color, race, gender, etc. It also means making financial products and services available and

affordable to individuals and businesses (Nawaz, Muhammad Ramzan and Shahid, 2021).

Financial inclusion includes Microloans, Micro Savings, and Microinsurance. These are the

different products of MFIs especially devised for the poor and marginalized population. MFIs in

Islamic countries offer MF products with Islamic principles to attract Islamic members of

society (Faridi, Nawaz and Bibi, 2022).

Microfinance

Products

1. Credit

2. Training

3. Social Capital

4. Savings

5. Insurance

Opportunity

Women

Entrepreneurs

1. Net Profit

2. Output

3. Investment

4. Employment

5. Empowerment

Risks

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Micro-Loans:

A microloan is a small amount of money given to poor people to start a small business. This is

also a good opportunity for women entrepreneurs to start up a business with little money.

Micro-Savings:

Micro-saving means allowing customers to save in a small portion. It is used in case of

emergency. It is a way through which microfinance encourages poor people to save for their

future. The purpose of micro-savings is to face unexpected incidents.

Micro-Insurance:

Microinsurance is a safeguard against the peril of low-income people. Microinsurance is

designed for those people who are deprived of traditional insurance. The form of insurance may

be health insurance, crop insurance, natural disaster insurance, and livestock insurance.

Entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurship means taking risks to create a new business, product, or service. “Women

Entrepreneurship” is the creation and ownership of a business empowered by women, which

raises their economic strength in society. Hence women are vulnerable to society. They have

poor access to financial services. They cannot make decisions about their family matters. Mostly

they are dominated by male partners. So, they need to be self-employed financially and non- financially, and MF has created a new dimension for women’s entrepreneurship.

The Impact of Microfinance:

Microfinance means realizing how financial facilities affect the lives of deprived and

marginalized people. Microfinance has an impact on three following things:

1. Individual level,

2. Household level, &

3. Enterprise level

LITERATURE REVIEW

Products like microcredit or microloans have been used for years in many countries. But they

were in different formats, mostly informal; however, microfinance in the modern format was

developed in the 1970s, and now it is regarded as a solution to financial exclusion and an

essential tool for entrepreneurship development, especially in developing countries (Ngono,

2021; Faridi, Nawaz and Bibi, 2022). Many studies argued that the lack of access to microcredit

is a barrier for many poor people in developing countries to be self-employed and start their

businesses or micro-enterprises (Tariq and Sangmi, 2020). But some studies also mentioned

that female borrowers depend on microfinance products for consumption, like children’s

school fees, housing, feeding, and meeting other personal needs. Sometimes women are in the

cycle of debt (Rahman, Khanam and Nghiem, 2017; Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2018;

J-PAL, 2018; Fowowe et al., 2022). Some studies also claimed that increasing individual access

to microcredit would also increase the growth of small-scale businesses (Sihag, 2018).

Similarly, studies related to the impact of microfinance provide different services for poverty

reduction and women empowerment. Microfinance’s investment in women positively impacts

health, nutrition, hygiene, and educational standards. Microfinance is vital for women’s

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entrepreneurship (Sihag, 2018; Mengstie and Singh, 2020). Women’s entrepreneurship is an

important tool to alleviate poverty. Microfinance plays a significant role in the socio-economy

and women’s entrepreneurship. Microfinance banks are removing gender discrimination by

ensuring women's access to financial services (Fowowe et al., 2022). Women entrepreneur

improves after joining the microfinance program. It helps them to make decisions

independently. It also helps to maintain a relationship with the family and society. Microfinance

is an instrument that fosters women’s entrepreneurship through economic and social

empowerment.

The new economy has seen a significant increase in the use of microfinance as a tool to reduce

poverty. Most microfinance initiatives focus on eradicating poverty and empowering women.

In addition, microfinance institutions (MFIs) prefer women members because they think

women are more trustworthy and accountable (Nawaz, Muhammad Ramzan and Shahid, 2021).

That is why it supports women for both financial and non-financial services. Many public and

private sector banks offer different schemes for women to make them self-reliant. Women

entrepreneurs face many hindrances, specifically in marketing their products to society.

Women always dynamically participate in their local economy. For example, in Africa, women

produce 80 percent of the food; in Asia, it is 60 percent; in Latin America, the percentage is 40.

It is seen that women not only produce the food but also market the product, which helps them

to develop knowledge of local markets and customers (Swapna, 2017).

Nowadays, people’s perceptions are changing, and women entrepreneurs are considered

necessary for economic development and wealth creation. Women entrepreneurs are also

considered social representatives of developing countries. Whether women are involved in

small or medium-scale production, their activities are regarded as a means for economic

survival (Mengstie and Singh, 2020). Microfinance helps women entrepreneurs by allowing

them to run small and medium-scale businesses. Because women entrepreneurs efficiently

manage small and medium enterprises. In a male-dominated society like India, women

entrepreneurs are neglected because of illiteracy (Sihag, 2018; Nawaz, Muhammad Ramzan

and Shahid, 2021). Women’s access to microfinance increases household income and

significantly impacts household well-being. It also has an impact on women well-being. This

household income and well-being bring gender equality (Agenda for Sustainable Development,

2018; Shkodra, Ymeri and Ibishi, 2021).

With some arguments and conditions many scholars have agreed that in poverty alleviation

there is a significant role in MF, especially in the developing economies. It is also an effective

tool for job creation. He also argued that sometimes entrepreneurs face loan shortages. Women

entrepreneurs face problems like complicated loan application procedures, lack of flexibility in

loan terms, etc. These problems hinder the business expansion of entrepreneurs (Tenagne,

2019; Faridi, Nawaz and Bibi, 2022). Based on the above discussion, it can be understood that

microfinance products have both positive and negative impacts, such as micro loans, micro

insurance, social capital creation, and training by the MFIs. In the current paper, we will explore

microfinance's primary positive and negative impacts on women’s entrepreneurship, as there

is a lack of literature on this particular topic. In addition, we will mark some challenges for this

activity for the MFIs and what can be done to overcome those challenges.

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OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The current research project is approached with a specific research objective, question,

hypothesis, and rationale of this study. In the following, the overall methodology of the study is

discussed.

Objective

The main objective of the current study is to explore the impact of microfinance on women

entrepreneurship. To explore this object, the study has identified two sub-objects to discover

the challenges MF institutions face in developing women’s entrepreneurship and making them

a success story.

Research Question

The main research questions this current study tries to answer is, what is the impact of

microfinance products on women entrepreneurship? To answer the primary research question,

the study has considered two sub-questions, what are the challenges the MFIs face in helping

women entrepreneurs? Finally, what can be done by the MFIs to overcome those challenges to

make women entrepreneurs successful?

Hypothesis

The study approaches the data with a hypothesis in consideration is there are both positive and

negative impacts of MF products on women entrepreneurship development because the

success of women entrepreneurship enterprises doesn’t depend only on the MF products but

also on the capacity of the entrepreneurs, business enterprises, return entrepreneurial

investments, etc. In addition, there are some challenges MFIs face while helping women

entrepreneurs in their enterprises, and there are certain things that MFIs can do to overcome

those challenges.

The Rationale of the Study

Microfinance products and institutions contribute to poverty reduction and help women

empowerment by enabling them in income-generating activities. This is why it is crucial to

explore the impact of MF products and institutions on women entrepreneurship development.

This study will contribute to microfinance and women empowerment literature by finding the

challenges MFIs face in women entrepreneurship development.

Data Collection Method

The study solely depends on the secondary literature and secondary data. To accumulate data

for the current study, a literature survey has been conducted to identify the literature from

different academic databases. In addition, journal articles, books, newspapers, blog articles,

media reports, research reports, and policy documents were consulted to prepare the article's

draft.

Data Analysis

After the study has identified and collected the potential literature related to microfinance

products and institutions; its connection to women entrepreneurship development, the

literature was analyzed based on the research question and objective. The literature was

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marked, coded, and used specifically for the article writing using the software PDF editor and

MS Word.

Ethical Consideration

While writing this article, appropriate sources were mentioned and cited where necessary and

were used to avoid plagiarism. Finally, a working bibliography is provided for the reader to

explore the literature in the relevant field, and specific data and literature copy can be made

available on request. There is no conflict of interest while writing the draft of this article. The

research was completed without any grant from any agency.

How MF Foster Women Entrepreneurship?

Several studies claimed and identified how MF products and institutions foster women

entrepreneurship. Before we explore the impacts of MF on women entrepreneurship, we need

to know how they can foster women entrepreneurship.

Women Empowerment:

Empowerment means equal opportunity in society. Women empowerment means gaining

influence on personal, social, and financial issues. But poverty is an excellent barrier to women’s

empowerment. Microfinance plays a vital role in women’s empowerment. Microfinance leads

to women empowerment by influencing their decision-making power (Sihag, 2018; Nawaz,

Muhammad Ramzan and Shahid, 2021). Microfinance helps create women entrepreneurs by

giving them loans and financial resources (Faraizi, McAllister and Rahman, 2014; Rahman,

Khanam and Nghiem, 2017).

Financial Empowerment:

Financial empowerment is the ability to transfer personal property. Women have less access to

financial resources compared to men. Microfinance helps women’s empowerment by

increasing women’s economic activity. It also helps women to gather financial service-related

knowledge and skill (Sihag, 2018; Mengstie and Singh, 2020).

Gender Equality:

Microfinance brings gender equality by increasing women’s access to financial resources.

Microfinance encourages women to be self-reliant and self-sufficient to sustainably make their

way out of poverty and create themselves (Mcgregor, 1989; Mengstie and Singh, 2020).

Women’s Excellence in Business:

Women are better at running a business than men. they are more successful than men. They

can make the right decision at the right time. For this reason, microfinance targets women and

gives them business loans (Fowowe et al., 2022).

Commercial Banks Provide Loans Only to Males:

Traditional banks give loans to male entrepreneurs. They are reluctant to give loans to women

entrepreneurs. But microfinance gives loans to women entrepreneurs. MFIs also give them

different training to properly utilize their loan (Swapna, 2017).

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Women’s Capacity to Properly Use Credit:

Women can use credit more than men. Most of the cases, men misuse the loan. But women can

make a suitable investment in credit. That is why microfinance chooses women for credit

disbursement.

Lack of Government Support:

Sometimes, there is a lack of government strategy to support women’s entrepreneurship. The

government may impose rules and regulations on businesses. In this case, microfinance is a

good solution (Faraizi, McAllister and Rahman, 2014; Rahman, Khanam and Nghiem, 2017).

Reduction of Poverty:

Poverty is a big barrier to women’s entrepreneurship. Microfinance reduces poverty by giving

them microloans and increasing the family income of women. Micro savings also plays an

essential role in the poverty reduction of women (Rahman, Khanam and Nghiem, 2017; J-PAL,

2018).

Social Status:

Women are neglected in society, especially in the global south countries. In most cases, they

have less access to decision-making power. Microfinance leads to women empowerment by

enhancing their socioeconomic status (Schuler, Hashemi and Badal, 2010).

The MF as a Tool for Women’s Entrepreneurship:

Women use microfinance products and take help from MFIs to improve their capacity and

knowledge of entrepreneurship. We have already discussed that entrepreneurial success

doesn’t only depend on microcredit; however, this is one of the major components of

entrepreneurial success (Swapna, 2017). Depending on this availability, one indicator can

coordinate with other indicators of entrepreneurial success. In this way, the MF can work as a

proper tool for women entrepreneurship development among women in developing and least- developed countries.

From the above discussion, it is understood that the MF itself greatly impacts women's

entrepreneurship development. The Microfinance products such as Microcredit, Micro-savings,

and Micro-insurance diversify the activities of women. It also encourages sustainability in

women’s entrepreneurship; This entrepreneurship brings not only the individual development

of women but also household and community-level development. It also enables women to

make decisions independently (Schuler, Hashemi and Badal, 2010). As a result, they can play a

role in the family, society, and the economy. This participation of women also decreases gender

discrimination. That is why the number of women entrepreneurs is increasing day by day. The

number of women-owned enterprises is also increasing. Some microfinance institutions

provide different nonfinancial services to women. Those are finance-related training,

counseling, and free business advisory services. Microfinance develops the economic condition

of women by giving them entrepreneurial opportunities (Faraizi, McAllister and Rahman,

2014).

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Positive Impact of MF on Women’s Entrepreneurship Development

Most of the customers of Microfinance institutions are female. Almost 70% of customers are

female (Ngono, 2020). Financial institutions realize the importance of investing in women- owned businesses. Women-owned businesses are more successful than men-owned

businesses. Microfinance institutions' purpose is to ensure women entrepreneurs'

participation in agriculture, finance, and other sectors to make them self-reliant. Apart from

these, Microfinance creates a broad network for women entrepreneurs. Because women can

maintain long-term relationships (Swapna, 2017; Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2018).

As a result, they can ensure higher profit from their business and higher return from their

investment.

Adverse Impact of MF on Women Entrepreneurship

The impact of MF generally is not beyond debate or controversy. The positive impact of MF

indeed has outnumbered the negative or adverse impact of MF in several blends. However,

there are still some adverse impacts of MF, especially on women entrepreneurship. Some NGOs,

media, or academic reports have romanticized the impact of MF in the global south or

developing or least developed countries. Still, those are very controversial and not beyond

debate. One of the major impacts of MF on women entrepreneurship is the lack of vision with

the MF products, and this is why the women who become the member of MFIs take, for example,

loans but use the money for personal consumption instead of entrepreneurial investment then

the loan become a burden for them, or they become loan defaulter.

Similarly, some entrepreneurs invest money in low-potential entrepreneurial projects and

eventually become loss projects because of the high-interest rates of the MF products. So,

without the proper vision of the entrepreneurs and the lack of cooperation of the MFIs, the

money from the MFIs was lost, and the project was banished. Still, the individual entrepreneur

had to bear the money burden and put themselves into the vicious cycle of poverty (J-PAL,

2018).

Likewise, MF products come with many conditions and high lending specifications on return

policy, making the use of MF products difficult for women entrepreneurs. Some MFIs follow

corporate culture or banking style of money lending, making it hard for women to access the

MF products. When the MFIs make other conditions for accessing money for the people who

need it, especially women, they become vulnerable to further challenges for their

entrepreneurial projects (Schuler, Hashemi and Badal, 2010; J-PAL, 2018). From the above

discussion, both positive and adverse impacts of MF products and institutions on women

entrepreneurs, but we have to accept that the positive impact of MF products and institutions

always outnumbers the adverse impact. Global South countries have provided evidence for the

above argument.

CONCLUSIONS

Microfinance improves the economic condition of women by providing them with

entrepreneurial opportunities. Microfinance as a financial capital plays an important role for

women entrepreneurs. When a woman becomes an entrepreneur, she develops her personal

life, her family, society, and the country's economy (Rahman, Khanam and Nghiem, 2017;

Swapna, 2017).

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But in a male-dominated society, women entrepreneurs are facing many challenges. It is found

that 65 percent of women can use the loan, but 35 percent of women cannot use the loan

effectively. Because there is some inadequate training by MFIs. But the proper utilization of

loans not only depends on the training of MFIs but also on the capacity of women entrepreneurs

to use the loan. If the loan is used effectively, MF can be a tool for poverty reduction and

employment generation.

The way forward for the current research is that further research needs to be done on the

specific products from MF, challenges for MFIs, bringing more manageable and accessible MF

products for the poor population of the society, social business and MF products, etc.

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