III.5.2.2- Impact on consumption
Micro-credit involves an increase in income which is intended
for the improvement of daily consumption; it enables to ensure food and
clothing, to build or acquire a housing, to buy animals or durable consumer
goods etc. Customers can also borrow to carry out investments in human terms,
such as healthcare and education or to pass from a crisis to another.
III.5.2.3- Impact on start-up businesses
Microcredit allows the borrower to start up a small business,
which initiates activities generating incomes. Although some
micro-entrepreneurs can start their activity thanks to their personal savings
(supplemented by gifts and loans from their relatives), they face a financing
problem once they have launched their activity, because they are unable to
obtain a credit from a bank. Microcredit has a positive impact on the income of
these small start-up businesses: Variables which determine and contribute for
this positive outcome are job creation, profit and sales turnover, accumulation
of assets and output (Hamed, 2004). Household customers often create jobs for
other households and job opportunities are thus offered to poor.
Various studies highlight the positive impact of micro-credit
on income, consumption and the activity of small businesses (Pitt and Khandker,
1998; Pitt et al., 2003), while other studies emphasize some negative impacts
(Adams and Von Pischke, 1992; Rahman, 1999). Afar these two positions, various
impact studies present mitigated outcomes: They question the efficiency of
microfinance in the struggle against great poverty or dispute the reliability
of most currently used methods of evaluation (Hulme and Mosley, 1996; Morduch,
1998).
Social performances cannot be limited to the targeting of poor
and to impact analysis, but must relate more largely to the way in which MFIs
continues its social mission. The model of
40
Analysis of microfinances' performance and
development of informal institutions in Cameroon
By Djamaman Brice Gaétan
social performance evaluation (Social Indicator Performance,
SPI) developed by CERISE11 enlarges the framework of social
performance, which encompasses four major dimensions: Targeting the poor and
excluded population, adjustment of services to the targeted customers,
improvement of the customers? social and political capital and MFIs social
responsibility with respect to their customers, staff and environment (Lapenu
et al., 2004). Other models have already been designed such Balanced Scorecard
and Global Reporting Initiative, which take into account the stakeholders of
MFIs, standing as any individual or group of individuals who can affect or be
affected by the achievement of the goals of the enterprise or institution
(Cornée, 2007).
III.6- Financial performance
In order to expand microfinance, financial performance has been
emphasized. As regards
evaluation of this performance, a large set of indicators have
been in use, most of which became standard. Although there is no consensus on
their definitions and their calculation methods, indicators were
institutionalized in the sense that they correspond to durable rules which are
compiled by the microfinance community. Among several dimensions, various
ratios of profitability provide the most important measurement of financial
performance.
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