Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, March, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-69)

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, March, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-69)

Thesis (MML (Law)) - Rhodes University, 2007.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Open access. Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-182). Print copy also available.

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

Poverty is a major challenge in most developing countries. Key challenges of the government are to alleviate poverty and propel citizens toward wealth creation through development of enterprises across all sectors and to address the problem of unemployment. In Kenya, the SME sector comprises of about 99% of private sector enterprises and is prolific in employment and wealth creation. Despite this critical role played by SMEs in growing the economy, they remain outside the formal banking sector, especially in Africa. Although the number of MFOs since the 1980s has increased, the demand for financial services is largely unmet. However, MFOs are increasingly experiencing competition from new entrants and commercial banks that have developed financial models to target SMEs. MFOs are required to formulate and implement competitive strategies to enable them achieve sustainable growth and compete with commercial banks. However, strategy implementation is generally accepted as a challenge across organisations and it is often easier to formulate strategies than implementing it. Despite the need to address strategy implementation challenges across organisations, there is a greater focus by practitioners and researchers regarding strategy formulation than implementation. Consequently, this study aimed at assessing the level of strategy implementation in MFOs and factors that affect strategy implementation in MFOs. The ultimate objective was to develop a hypothetical model that could be used to improve strategy implementation in microfinance organisations in Kenya. This quantitative study used purposive sampling to select MFOs that are members of the Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI) in Kenya, completing a selfadministered structured questionnaire. In total, 135 MFOs were involved in this study and a total sample size of 300 managers was used in this study. This study considered fourteen factors to have an influence on the level of strategy implementation of MFOs in Kenya and hence fourteen null-hypotheses were formulated and tested. The content factors included stakeholder involvement in strategy development and the quality of strategies. The context factors included organisational structure and culture, strategic leadership and alignment of strategy to market conditions. The operational process factors included operational planning, monitoring and review of progress, teamwork, resources allocation, people-strategy fit, effective communication, strategic and management control systems and information resources. It is assumed that if all these critical strategy implementation factors are addressed, MFOs should be able improve their level of strategy implementation, ultimately leading to improved performance. The outcome factors considered were improved financial sustainability and outreach of MFOs. Advanced statistical analyses were used to analyse the data, such as factor analysis, regression and correlation analysis to assess the hypothesised relationship between the dependent and independent variables of this study. The empirical results revealed that the level of strategy implementation in MFOs in Kenya is moderate to high and content, context and operational factors do have an influence on the level of strategy implementation. However, operational factors have a more significant positive linear relationship with level of strategy implementation than the other two factors. There is also a positive relationship between the level of strategy implementation and financial sustainability and outreach by MFOs. This study has contributed to the existing body of knowledge by developing a hypothetical model that can be utilised by MFOs as well as other organisations to improve the level of strategy implementation resulting in better performance. The findings of the study can also inform strategy formulation and implementation of MFOs in Kenya, but also in other developing countries, to become more competitive. This study could also help MFOs and other organisations to put in place structures, systems, people and other resources required to attain a high level of strategy implementation. This study provides useful and practical guidelines in dealing with content, context and operational factors affecting strategy implementation in any organisational setting.

Smallholder farmers across the world, including Mozambique, are often faced with limited growth potential. This could mainly be attributed to an inability to purchase sufficient inputs to produce more and better-quality crops and to cultivate more land. This, in turn, is directly related to the fact that many of them do not qualify for credit, or put in another way, they are financially excluded. Smallholder farmers are known to have little or no assets to offer as collateral against loans. However, the question to be asked is, does this matter? This study proves that credit does make a difference in the community of Belas, Manica Province, Mozambique, despite the perceived high costs thereof. If given access to credit, these smallholder farmers will continuously make use of this opportunity, which in turn will lead to an increase in the procurement of inputs. Data obtained from a group of 142 smallholder farmers in the Belas community in Mozambique, and stored in a cloud-based data system, was used to analyse and graphically depict the uptake of loans, repayment records and the increase in the procurement of inputs. The number of new loans taken over time is used as a measurement of the initial demand for loans, while the repayment rate acts as the repayment ability of the farmers, further the continuous uptake of consecutive loans is used to further measure whether the farmers find value in taking up loans. The repayment rate and uptake are also measured in respect of gender, age and financial inclusion to establish whether these factors cause any deviations from the mean. The data made it evident that, once loans are made available to these farmers, they do make use of the opportunity, and once they repay their first loan, they are likely to take up a new, larger loan to further increase the procurement of inputs, and at a later stage, also increase the use of equipment like tractors. The sample group of farmers was initially slow at repaying their first loans, but the repayment rate of the farmers increased once they moved to their second and third consecutive loans. This could be attributed to the continuous training they received once they started to qualify for loans. The uptake of credit was also affected by the age of farmers, where farmers between the ages of 41 and 50 were more likely to take up loans and furthermore to repay their loans and take up consecutive loans. With respect to the repayment ability of a farmer, it was found that a longer-term relationship between the financier and the farmer resulted in a better repayment ability by the latter. Women were found to repay their loans marginally faster than men did. In conclusion, this study found that farmers do see the value of credit, despite the perceived high costs, and that the uptake of loans leads to an increase in the procurement of inputs. It is recommended that microcredit be accompanied by training, to ensure the effective production of their products and therefore the repayment of their credit. MFIs need to operate in a competitive environment to ensure that no one company can inflate the costs of lending, this means that policies need to accommodate easy access to this market. / Mini Dissertation (MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics) / Unrestricted

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In Ghana, the number of people living in extreme poverty has reduced. Yet the poverty rate is currently 24.2 %, which is still high considering that Ghana is a lower middle-income country (Emmanuel, Frempong, Opareh & Rose, 2015; 35). In Ghana, the poor are classified in two groups: “ 1) … those who live above an upper line of GHC 1314.00 per day which is equivalent to US $ 1.83, and; 2) those within a lower poverty line of GHC 729.05 equivalent to US $ 1.03 a day…” (Emmanuel, Frempong, Opareh & Rose, 2015; 35). Those who “… live above the upper line of GHC 1314.00 are considered as non-poor, whereas those with a consumption expenditure equivalent or below GHC 729.05 a lower poverty line are in absolute poverty or living in extreme poverty…” (Emmanuel et al., 2015). In Ghana, Yaidoo and Kalaiah (2018) agree that microcredit programs are a neoliberal ploy that keep poor people in a perpetual state of poverty. Most microcredit beneficiaries are located in the rural areas and majority are the lowest income earners of the employed population. Microcredit should ordinarily have a broader range of empowerment services, yet the Ghana microcredit programs do not have this. Microcredit in Ghana has become a debt trap and its benefits to the poor is illusory (Yaidoo and Kalaiah, 2018). Most microcredits have high interest rates and seek to profit operations which had created a situation where microcredits are an additional burden to the people, impacting negatively on their livelihood (Yaidoo and Kalaiah, 2018). Further, Yaidoo and Kalaiah (2018) pinpointed that in Ghana, by observing the crippling consequences of debt burden on countries (such as Ghana who opted for the Highly Indebted Poor Country status in 2002), the world financial crisis in 2007/08, and cases of high default in repayment of debt, it would make sense to adopt a more impactful approach to microcredit. In that other role, players are needed to fill the gap with intervention resulting in improving people’s livelihood. This study aimed to empirically access the effect of microcredit on beneficiaries’ livelihood improvement. The study was conducted in four regions of Ghana, with the main objective to find out whether the Self-Supported Assistant Programme (SSAP) microcredit has improved the livelihood of its beneficiaries. The specific objectives of the study were to: i) evaluate the Beneficiaries Livelihoods Status as per their asset accumulation, voluntary saving, capabilities and frequency of loan repayment, and; ii) to estimate the effects of Demographic + Socioeconomic + Loan T&Cs Variables (financial training + loan interest rates + loan monitoring) on Beneficiaries Livelihoods Improvement (asset accumulation, voluntary saving, capabilities).

La presente investigación describe tres etapas, la primera acerca de los orígenes y evolución histórica de las microfinanzas en el Peru y en el mudo, la segunda está basada en la situación actual de las microfinanzas y la tercera acerca de la controversia de si realmente las microfinanzas contribuyen al desarrollo de los más necesitados. Esta investigación se desarrolló entorno a la literatura de algunos autores que analizan el tema desde diferentes puntos de vista, algunos coinciden en que las microfinanzas van más allá del solo hecho de pensar en el microcrédito, es decir también se debe considerar al microahorro y los seguros. Asimismo, se hizo una revisión de algunos casos de éxito en países de Latinoamérica, analizando datos relevantes como el nivel de sus colocaciones, monto de los créditos y número de clientes y a la vez una revisión del caso Peru de como las microfinanzas se han venido desarrollando en los últimos años. Por otro lado, el presente trabajo pretende clarificar si realmente las microfinanzas contribuyen al desarrollo de los más necesitados. Para ello, se realizó una revisión de sus orígenes, como se encuentra actualmente las microfinanzas y finalmente dar respuesta a dicha controversia. Para finalizar, en función del análisis realizado, obtener conclusiones y recomendaciones relevantes con la información recopilada. / This paper research describes three stages, the first about the origins and historical evolution of microfinance in Peru and the world, the second is based on the current situation of microfinance and the third about the controversy over whether microfinance really contributes to the development of the poorest. This research was developed around the literature of some authors who analyse the subject from different points of view, some agree that microfinance goes beyond just thinking about microcredit, that is, micro-savings and insurance must also be considered. Likewise, a review of some success cases in Latin American countries was made, analyzing relevant data such as the level of their placements, amount of loans and number of clients, and at the same time a review of the case of Peru on how microfinance has been developing. in recent years. On the other hand, this paper research tries to clarify if microfinance really contributes to the development of the poorest. To do this, a review of its origins was carried out, how are microfinance currently, and finally to respond to this controversy. Finally, based on the analysis performed, obtain relevant conclusions and recommendations with the information collected. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional