Books
Milford Bateman, CONFRONTING MICROFINANCE: UNDERMINING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (2011).
Product Description (from Amazon): Despite the popularity of microfinance, it’s a field that remains remarkably under-theorized. Most evaluations carried out by international development agencies, academics, and ‘independent’ researchers focus on tweaking what they see as an already beneficial system. Rarely are the very foundations of microfinance brought into question. Instead, their studies presuppose impact without evidence, ignore potentially important issues, and utilize faulty evaluation methodologies. Bateman and contributors provide critical perspectives on microfinance that reach beyond the desire for technical perfection held dear by almost all microfinance institutions. It charts actual economic and social impacts registered in Southeast Europe to date, both in the context of post-communist transition and post-conflict reconstruction. It examines key cross-cutting issues, providing a more holistic and comprehensive approach to microfinance.
Sylvie K. Bossoutrot, MICROFINANCE IN RUSSIA: BROADENING ACCESS TO FINANCE FOR MICRO- AND SMALL ENTREPRENEURS (2005).
Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com): In Russia, small-scale entrepreneurship has emerged in response to the collapse of state-ownership and unemployment in the early 1990s. Small businesses typically lack adequate collateral and credit history, making them “unbankable” by the mainstream financial sector. To fund their businesses, micro-entrepreneurs are forced to rely on funds from family and friends, or money lenders. Microfinance institutions of four types have emerged to meet the unfulfilled financing needs of micro-entrepreneurs: commercial banks, specialized NGO-type microfinance institutions, membership-based institutions (such as rural cooperatives and credits unions), and public funds. All four types have enjoyed significant growth in Russia in the past five years, but the industry is still at an early stage of development. Demand appears to far outweigh supply. Microfinance in Russia provides an overview of microfinance in Russia to date, presenting industry trends and identifying key challenges to sustainable growth of the industry.
Elaine Edgcomb, et al., THE PRACTICE OF MICROENTERPRISE IN THE US: STRATEGIES, COSTS AND EFFECTIVENESS (1996).
Abstract: Documents the experience of seven microenterprise programs in delivering credit and training to low-income people.
Valjean McLenighan & Jean Pogge, THE BUSINESS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY: MICROCREDIT IN THE UNITED STATES (1991).
Abstract: Information about microcredit programs, including funding, operations, advocacy and policy recommendations.
Micro Finance and Rural Women Entrepreneurship in India (Suman Kalyan Chaudhury et al. eds., 2012).
Abstract: This book contains a collection of articles touching on various aspects of entrepreneurship as experienced by women in rural India.
NEW PARTNERSHIPS FOR INNOVATION IN MICROFINANCE (Ingrid Matthäus-Maier & J. D. von Pischke eds., 2009).
Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com): Microfinance has experienced dynamic development. Today, microfinance providers reach close to 100 million clients worldwide and are growing fast. New partnerships expand the impact of microfinance even further. Three types of partnerships are examined in this book, each consisting of a thematic pillar. Pillar I focuses on equity investments in microfinance, especially the possibilities for engaging private investors through structured microfinance investment funds. Rating agencies are involved in providing more transparency in this emerging fund industry. Pillar II focuses on collaboration among microfinance providers, governments, private investors and technology companies which help microfinance institutions to integrate new technologies into their business models, reducing cost and increasing outreach to clients. Pillar III covers micropensions, microinsurance and the role of securitization for the future of microfinance.
Mehnaz Safavian & Aban Haq, Are Pakistan's Women Entrepreneurs Being Served by the Microfinance Sector? (2013).
Abstract (from authors): Financial services are important for women who are starting and growing a business, but in Pakistan microfinance providers (MFPs) are not reaching Pakistan’s businesswomen. Only 59 percent of microfinance clients are women, yet the majority of these loans are passed on the male members of the household – husbands, fathers, and sons. The practice of passing on loans to male household members is quite widespread; women may be bearing all the transaction costs and risks of accessing loans, but are not the final beneficiaries. Second, a very low proportion of female microfinance clients are entrepreneurs. The report explores why businesswomen in Pakistan may not be using microfinance products to meet their start-up and working capital requirements, in spite of identifying access to finance as a key constraint to their business operations. Against this backdrop, access to finance remains the biggest challenge for a woman who wants to start or grow a business. Yet less than a quarter of the entrepreneurs identified through business development service providers were currently borrowing from microfinance lenders. Even among those entrepreneurs that borrow, dissatisfaction is high. Why? Women borrower-entrepreneurs are not able to access individual loan products, but instead are consistently relegated to group lending. But group loans are very costly for a woman who is running a business, and the loans are too small to fulfill working capital needs. Businesswomen are rarely given the opportunity to access individual loan products, which are usually offered exclusively to male borrowers, and women are not given opportunities to graduate from group loans to individual loans over time. Lending practices often are discriminatory, requiring husbands’ permission, male guarantors, and unmarried women are rarely considered as potential clients. Although MFIs understand that women’s inclusion is integral to the objectives of microfinance, the practice of passing on loans raises serious issues about consumer protection for women clients, and the best and most effective solutions to these challenges could and should come from the sector itself. Designing better products that reach the needs of emerging women entrepreneurs could prove to be good business, achieving double bottom-line objectives. Investing in financial literacy and education of both men and women borrowers can help curb the demand for pass-through loans and help lower risks associated with deceptive practices.
SELF-EMPLOYMENT LEARNING PROJECT, MICROENTERPRISE ASSISTANCE: WHAT ARE WE LEARNING ABOUT RESULTS? (1995).
Abstract: Provides information in bullet format on key findings from research conducted by the Self-Employment Learning Project.
Philip B. Smith & Eric Thurman, A BILLION BOOTSTRAPS: MICROCREDIT, BAREFOOT BANKING, AND THE BUSINESS SOLUTION FOR ENDING POVERTY (2007).
Abstract (from product description at Amazon.com): This book discusses the roots of the microcredit revolution, revealing how the pioneering work of people such as Dr. Muhammad Yunus-winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize-is giving hope to billions. The book explores how these small loans, arranged by “barefoot bankers,” enable impoverished people to start small businesses, support their families, and improve local economies. By paying back their loans instead of simply accepting handouts, men and women around the world are continually giving others the same opportunity to change their futures. The book also examines why traditional charity programs, while providing short-term relief, often perpetuate the problems they are trying to alleviate, and how applying investment principles to philanthropy could be the key to reversing poverty permanently.
Social Entrepreneurship as a Catalyst for Social Change (Charles Wankel & Larry Pate eds., 2013).
Abstract (from publisher): Social Entrepreneurship as a Catalyst for Social Change contains twenty chapters on the impact of social entrepreneurial ventures within a variety of cultural and national contexts. From Brazil to Croatia, from Thailand to Greenland, this book is rare in that it provides a rich landscape in which to imagine additional efforts to bring about positive social change. The case studies cover a broad range of topics with one common theme-how can we learn from what others are doing in the emerging field of social entrepreneurship? The various cases will inspire budding entrepreneurs to new heights of awareness to support the alleviation of poverty in many contexts. Part Two, Lessons from the Field: How Social Entrepreneurial Companies are Succeeding, discusses the similarities and differences that social entrepreneurial ventures and other businesses must face to be successful. Other topics covered include Entrepreneur Bootcamp for Veterans, microfinance, social entrepreneurship education, and development of a culture of social entrepreneurship. Part Three, Going from Local to Global, explores the challenges of a social enterprise as it transitions from a national venture to an international one. The relationship between social entrepreneurship and local business development in places such as Sicily is discussed through case studies. A stage theory of social venture internationalization is put forth. Research connecting social media and social entrepreneurship is used to illustrate the importance of social networks in creating positive social change. Part four, Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship, explores the challenges that social entrepreneurial ventures face. Ethics of intellectual property rights in social enterprises is a focal topic in this section. Social franchising as an approach to social entrepreneurship is illustrated.
Muhammad Yunus, CREATING A WORLD WITHOUT POVERTY: SOCIAL BUSINESS AND THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM (2009).
Product Description (from Publishers Weekly): Economics professor Yunus claims he originally became involved in the poverty issue not as a policy-maker, scholar, or researcher, but because poverty was all around him. He stopped teaching elegant theories and began lending small amounts of money, $40 or less, without collateral, to the poorest women in the world. Thirty-three years later, the Grameen Bank has helped seven million people live better lives building businesses to serve the poor. The bank is solidly profitable, with a 98.6% repayment rate. It inspired the micro-credit movement, which has helped 100 million of the poorest people in the world escape poverty and earned Yunus (Banker to the Poor) a Nobel Peace prize. This volume efficiently recounts the story of microcredit, then discusses Social Business, organizations designed to help people while turning profits. French food giant Danone's partnership to market yogurt in Bangladesh is described in detail, along with 25 other businesses that operate under the Grameen banner. Infused with entrepreneurial spirit and the excitement of a worthy challenge, this book is the opposite of pessimistic recitals of intractable poverty's horrors.