Evolution of Developing Country Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

Abstract

This chapter has two objectives: to link the social entrepreneurship concepts to what researchers observe in the modern-day microfinance industry in developing countries and to link the life cycle concept to the financial inclusion need and microfinance industry in developing countries. Ashta's first contribution in this chapter is that he provides a story of how microfinance entrepreneurs start with a dream, how they persuade others to join in the dream through storytelling, how they start the industry with not-for-profits, why they may transform to for-profit and how they gradually converge into the larger formal banking industry. His second contribution in this chapter is to show that this life cycle may differ from country to country, with different countries being in different stages of their life cycle. PU - PALGRAVE PI - BASINGSTOKE PA - HOUNDMILLS, BASINGSTOKE RG21 6XS, ENGLAND