Evaluating the Performance of the Microfinance Industry

This article provides both basic information about what micro-finance is and a discussion and analysis of the accumulated experience in this field. An interesting aspect of the development of micro-finance in the last two decades is the process of privatization. The World Bank and State Dependent Financial Institutions (SDFI) are augmented and sometimes replaced by private sector banks like the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The process of privatization brings micro-finance closer to the mainstream of the practice and the research of international business considers a forgotten sector of the global world, small scale poor farmers and businesspeople in populous countries.