Microfinance has become one of the most promising tools for development and poverty alleviation over the past two decades. Millions of borrowers around the globe have utilized microcredit to start or expand their small businesses and raise their household income. One poverty-induced problem microfinance could potentially alleviate is child labor. Despite international legislation prohibiting it, child labor continues to deprive millions of children of their right to education. Without education, there is little hope for a country to increase productivity and wealth in the future. A number of scholars have highlighted a negative correlation between credit rationing and child labor. However, there are no studies that examine whether or not children are less likely to work in households that participate in microfinance programs. In some circumstances, microcredit may increase household income and induce parents to withdraw their children from work while in others, raising the household income level may lead children to work more. In low-income countries with numerous microfinance institutions, many children work despite their parents’ access to credit. In order to examine this paradoxical phenomenon, this thesis presents a number of econometric models which analyze both child labor and credit at the household level. Though these models are vital in explaining the relevant trends, a purely economic analysis fails to capture the political and cultural factors that also engender child labor. To illustrate this complex relationship between economics and mores, this thesis highlights the impact of microfinance on child labor in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is an ideal country for this study because microfinance and child labor are both endemic. Finally, conclusions drawn from this analysis inform policy recommendations to amplify the effectiveness of microfinance on diminishing child labor.

Thesis (M.S.Eco.)--Baylor University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-46).

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The microfinance sector has a strategic role since they facilitate integration and development of all social classes to sustained economic growth. In this way the actual point is the exponential growth of data, resulting from transactions and operations carried out with these companies on a daily basis, becomes imminent. Appropriate management of this data is therefore necessary because, otherwise, it will result in a competitive disadvantage due to the lack of valuable and quality information for decision-making and process improvement. The Master Data Management (MDM) give a new way in the Data management, reducing the gap between the business perspectives versus the technology perspective In this regard, it is important that the organization have the ability to implement a data management model for Master Data Management. This paper proposes a Master Data management maturity model for microfinance sector, which frames a series of formal requirements and criteria providing an objective diagnosis with the aim of improving processes until entities reach desired maturity levels. This model was implemented based on the information of Peruvian microfinance organizations. Finally, after validation of the proposed model, it was evidenced that it serves as a means for identifying the maturity level to help in the successful of initiative for Master Data management projects. / Revisión por pares

abstract: The microfinance industry provides financial services to the world's poor in hopes of moving individuals and families out of poverty. This dissertation document suggests that information and communication technologies (ICTs) are changing the microfinance industry, especially given recent advancements in mobile banking, Internet usage and connectivity, and a decreasing digital divide. These impacts are discussed in three essays. First, ICTs impact intermediation among various players in the microfinance industry. Second, ICTs impact the extent to which microfinance institutions (MFIs) extend their outreach to poorer or more geographically remote borrowers. Finally, ICTs impact the location of decision rights given newly forming peer-to-peer (P2P) social microlending organizations. As the microfinance industry increases its adoption and reliance on ICTs, new and interesting opportunities abound for researchers in the information systems discipline. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Business Administration 2012

Thesis (MTech (Internal Auditing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / Approximately 57% of the total population in South Africa lives under the poverty line. In this regard, Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) which provide microfinance play a vital role to provide access for poor households to banking-related financial services. This service can only be delivered sustainably through means of deploying effective management practices, especially in terms of risk management. The purpose of this research is to identify risks faced by microfinance SMMEs and to establish the effectiveness of the current risk management practices deployed by them. This study aims at increasing the knowledge base and understanding of risk management practices by conducting a comprehensive literature review and field research. In order to establish a theoretical basis, a comprehensive literature review was performed and prior studies on various aspects relating to microfinance risk management were investigated. This was followed by a field research which studied the risk management of microfinance providers in the Cape Metropole; large financial service providers like commercials banks were excluded. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire from microfinance providers in the Cape Metropole. These microfinance providers were drawn from a list of credit providers that was obtained from the National Credit Regulator (NCR) public domain. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants for this study. The information provided by participants is kept strictly confidential and anonymity of all respondents was guaranteed. This research noted that collaterals are absent in microfinance and instead, a close connection between microfinance SMMEs and their clients come into place. Risk management frameworks which provide an all-inclusive approach to risk management are largely absent in microfinance SMMEs. Much fewer microfinance SMMEs actively identify risks, categorise, prioritise and document them appropriately. The research further showed that the views on risk management depend on whether the respondent is an owner or a manager of the enterprise.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O novo mundo do trabalho, decorrente do processo de acumulaÃÃo flexÃvel de capital, determinou profundas mudanÃas na vida dos trabalhadores, em todos os nÃveis. O padrÃo dos empregos tradicionais, que alÃm da estabilidade, assegurava os benefÃcios da legislaÃÃo trabalhista, vem sendo alterado, gradativamente. Os postos de trabalho conquistados durante a fase fordista do capitalismo requerem atitudes dos trabalhadores no sentido de eles serem mais dinÃmicos, mais competitivos e empreendedores. Aumento da jornada de trabalho, reengenharias que implicam na reestruturaÃÃo produtiva, na desconstruÃÃo de mÃtodos gerenciais consagrados e na contÃnua adoÃÃo das tecnologias da informaÃÃo tÃm culminado com a reduÃÃo dos empregos tradicionais e no aumento dos trabalhadores por conta prÃpria. Se por um lado, o quadro hà pouco referido beneficia segmentos da mÃo-de-obra mais escolarizada e especializada, para a grande massa dos trabalhadores significa a perda dos empregos e a busca da sobrevivÃncia, geralmente desenvolvendo atividades na economia informal, o que acarreta a precarizaÃÃo das relaÃÃes de trabalho. A partir dessa realidade, as polÃticas pÃblicas de geraÃÃo de ocupaÃÃo e renda estimulam a combinaÃÃo do microcrÃdito com o desenvolvimento do empreendedorismo como forma de consolidar a condiÃÃo do autoemprego. Descrito este cenÃrio, convÃm apresentar algumas das perguntas orientadoras para a realizaÃÃo desta tese: Quem sÃo os trabalhadores por conta prÃpria? O que fazem quando estimulados pelos programas de concessÃo de microcrÃdito a desenvolverem atitudes empreendedoras, como o desenvolvimento dos talentos empresariais e da prÃtica da competitividade? Apresentam as condiÃÃes culturais e visÃo de mundo para por em prÃtica os princÃpios pÃs-modernos do empreendedorismo? E de que empreendedorismo se està falando? à um empreendedorismo schumpeteriano? Um empreendedorismo por necessidade, nativo e marcado pela sobrevivÃncia? Ou à um empreendedorismo de pequeno porte que insiste em se estabelecer em territÃrios socioeconÃmicos heterogÃneos? A metodologia adotada nesta tese fundamentou-se, alÃm de detalhada anÃlise bibliogrÃfica, na realizaÃÃo de uma pesquisa amostral no bairro Granja Portugal, que integra o conglomerado urbano do Grande Bom Jardim, situado na periferia de Fortaleza, capital do CearÃ. Foram realizadas, ainda, entrevistas com lÃderes comunitÃrios e agentes e consultores de crÃdito de programas que atuam na Ãrea. A pesquisa destaca, dentre os principais resultados, a existÃncia da sobrevivÃncia empreendedora, marcada por traÃos de empreendedorismos diversos, como os da realizaÃÃo profissional e pessoal; os da inovaÃÃo e criatividade e os do trabalho exaustivo e disciplinado. A maioria dos microprodutores revela o carÃter de estratÃgia de sobrevivÃncia das ocupaÃÃes exercidas e indica a preferÃncia por empregos fixos que assegurem os benefÃcios da legislaÃÃo trabalhista. Por seu turno, aqueles que denotam seguranÃa quanto ao exercÃcio dos prÃprios negÃcios ainda nÃo sÃo apoiados satisfatoriamente pelas polÃticas pÃblicas, como a concessÃo de microcrÃdito e a oferta de cursos sobre microempreendedorismo. Em suma, este estudo sugere que os programas de microcrÃdito contemplem as possibilidades de emprÃstimos para a criaÃÃo de negÃcios, alÃm da reformulaÃÃo do conteÃdo dos cursos de empreendedorismo, no sentido de despertar, junto aos microempresÃrios a consciÃncia do desenvolvimento socioeconÃmico do territÃrio onde vivem, como base essencial para o surgimento de empreendedores de pequeno porte. / The new world of labor, that is a result of the flexible accumulation of capital, determined deep changes in the workersâ lives. There has been changes in the pattern of traditional jobs â the kind of job that was able to provide stability and the benefits of labor laws. New characteristics were demanded from workers in the in the fordism era of capitalism. Itâs required dynamism, competitiveness and entrepreneurship from workers. Reengineering that causes productive restructuring, longer laborâs journeys, change of management methods and the adoption of new technologies have caused the reduction of traditional jobs and an increase of the number of own-account workers. This scenario benefits the high qualified and skilled workers, but to the greater proportion of workers, it means unemployment and struggle to survive, usually developing activities in the informal labor market â there is precarious labor. Facing this reality, public policies of job and income generation stimulate microcredit and entrepreneurship as a way to consolidate the activities developed by own-account workers. Since we have described this scenario, it is necessary to ask some questions order to guide this thesis: Who are the own-account workers? What do those workers do when they are stimulated to develop their managerial talents and competitiveness practices through the microcredit policies? Do those workers have cultural background that enables them to practice the post-modern principles of entrepreneurship? What kind of entrepreneurship are we talking about? Is it Schumpeterâs entrepreneurship? Is it an entrepreneurship based on needs, native and marked by survival struggle? Is it an entrepreneurship of small business that insists to be established in heterogeneous social-economics spaces? The methodology we adopted in this thesis evolves, beyond detailed bibliographic analysis, a sample research in the district Granja Portugal, that is part of Grande Bom Jardim − an urban agglomeration in the periphery of Fortaleza, the city capital of Ceara. We also interviewed community leaders and credit consulters and credit agents that work in that area. The research highlights, among its most important results, the existence of entrepreneurship used as an strategy of survival, that carries out aspects of different kinds of entrepreneurship, such as achievement of professional and personal goals; innovation and creativity, and exhaustive work and discipline. Most microproducers reveals the character of survival strategy in their labor activities and they prefer formal contracts jobs that assure the benefits of labor laws. Those who are secure in their own-account job activities are not yet satisfactorily supported by the public policies, such as microcredit loans and the courses about micro entrepreneurship. We may summarize the argument so far by saying that this study suggests that the microcredit programs should contemplate loans to new business and the reformulation of the courses about entrepreneurship. So, those courses may develop the conscious of the social-economic development of the territory where the entrepreneurs live. This is an essential basis for the surge of micro entrepreneurs.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a relação entre o desempenho financeiro e o desempenho social de instituições de microfinanças que atuam na América Latina. Dessa forma, o trabalho propõe, por meio da aplicação de métodos quantitativos como testes de correlação e de regressão, uma investigação acerca da relação entre variáveis representativas do desempenho social e do desempenho financeiro dessas organizações. Além disso, as variáveis de controle forma legal da organização (com ou sem fins lucrativos) e tamanho (ativo total) foram incluídas no modelo. A amostra foi constituída por instituições de microfinanças da América Latina que publicaram seus resultados financeiros e seus dados sociais na plataforma MIX Market entre os anos de 2008 e 2009. A necessidade de publicação dessas informações revelou-se a principal limitação do tamanho amostral da pesquisa. Os resultados alcançados revelam a importância da variável tamanho da instituição para que a organização alcance resultados financeiros e sociais superiores, o que indicaria a provável presença de economias de escala. Também se evidencia a preponderância da não rejeição da hipótese nula, ou seja, de que não é possível estabelecer uma relação entre desempenho financeiro e desempenho social das instituições de microfinanças. Para pesquisas futuras, aconselha-se a utilização de uma maior série temporal de dados e o aprimoramento do indicador social, a fim de que se torne mais abrangente e preciso. / The present thesis aims to analyze the relationship between financial and social performances of microfinance institutions that operate in Latin America. Thus, the paper proposes, through the application of quantitative methods as tests of correlation and regression, an investigation about the relationship between variables related to social performance and financial performance of these organizations. Furthermore, control variables as legal form of the organization (for profit or nonprofit) and size (total assets) were included in the model. The sample consisted of microfinance institutions in Latin America that published their financial results and their social data on the platform MIX Market between the years 2008 and 2009. The necessity of publication of this information proved to be the main limitation of the survey sample size. The results reveal the importance of the variable size of the institution for the organization to achieve higher social and financial results, which indicate the probable presence of economies of scale. The results also reveal the preponderance of evidence that does not reject the null hypothesis, i.e. that it is not possible to establish a relationship between financial and social performances of microfinance institutions. For future research, we recommend the use of a larger series of data and improvement of social indicator, so that it becomes more comprehensive and accurate.

Com o objetivo de concluir quanto ao alcance e aos limites das microfinanças na luta contra a pobreza, este trabalho contém duas partes principais, sendo uma centrada na discussão sobre desenvolvimento e a outra enfocando a literatura empírica sobre impacto de programas de microfinanças e de microcrédito em seus beneficiários. Tendo por base a discussão realizada dos estudos empíricos mais rigorosos, em termos de isolamento do efeito da participação em programas financeiros voltados aos pobres ? isto é, basicamente, estudos que controlaram as variáveis observáveis e as não observáveis ?, pode-se concluir que as iniciativas microfinanceiras podem trazer benefícios diretamente aos componentes de famílias pobres. Tais benefícios estão ligados principalmente à esfera da estabilização do consumo. Por outro lado, deve-se reconhecer que, apesar de seus benefícios bastante apreciáveis, as microfinanças não podem ser consideradas uma espécie de panacéia. Em relação a essa questão, o mérito deste trabalho está em discutir essas limitações não tão-somente do ponto de vista dos resultados que não são encontrados pelos estudos, mas também sob o enfoque amplo da compreensão das bases de funcionamento da sociedade. De acordo com a linha de análise adotada, apoiada em textos de Celso Furtado e de Milton Santos, a sociedade subdesenvolvida se pautaria, por seu funcionamento, por criar uma massa de subaproveitados, e tal fator pode ser visto como uma peça-chave para compreender a economia dos pobres e seus princípios de organização que, por sua vez, constituem o contexto onde operam as microfinanças. Assim, essa visão do subdesenvolvimento, além de contribuir para o entendimento da vida econômica dos pobres, contribui de maneira decisiva para a delimitação das possibilidades das iniciativas microfinanceiras, não esperando delas solução para dificuldades criadas e realimentadas, fundamentalmente, pelo modo como a sociedade funciona. Entre as questões suscitadas a partir dos achados empíricos discutidos, o trabalho referese, ainda, ao aparato regulatório sobre o setor microfinanceiro no Brasil, considerando o seu eventual aprimoramento, no sentido de tornar as iniciativas potencialmente mais benéficas aos pobres. / Aiming at debating the scope of microfinance in the fight against poverty, this paper is divided into two main parts, one of which centered in the discussion of development and the other, focused on the empirical literature about the impact of microfinance and microcredit programs on the beneficiary parts. Based on the discussion included in the most rigorous empirical studies, regarding the isolation of the effect of participation in financial programs aimed at the poor ? that is, basically, studies that controlled the observable and non-observable variables -, it is possible to conclude that the microfinance initiatives can directly benefit the components of poor families. Such benefits are mainly linked to the stabilization of consumption. On the other hand, despite the extremely pleasant benefits, the microfinance cannot be considered a kind of panacea. Regarding this issue, the merit of this paper is to debate these limitations not only from the point-of-view of the lack of results that are showed in the studies, but also under the broad scope of comprehending the society functioning bases. According to the line of analysis adopted, based on texts by Celso Furtado and Milton Santos, the underdeveloped society creates, due to its functioning, a great group of underused people, and this fact can be seen as a key to comprehend the economy of the poor and their principles of organization, which are part of the scenario that encompasses microfinance. Therefore, this view of the underdevelopment, in addition to contributing for the understanding of the economic life of the poor, highly contributes for the delimitation of the possibilities of microfinance programs, which should not be expected to solve the difficulties that are created and fed, basically, by the way society works. Among the questions raised as a result of the discussions of empirical studies, the paper still refers to the regulatory aspects underlying the microfinance sector in Brazil, considering its eventual improvement, aiming at turning the initiatives potentially more favorable to the poor.

A presente pesquisa busca analisar os efeitos da regulação financeira sobre diferentes aspectos do setor de microfinanças. Para tanto identifica, a partir da literatura especializada, hipóteses que apontam para quatro variáveis como as mais sensíveis aos efeitos da regulação e supervisão. São elas a sustentabilidade financeira das instituições, seu alcance em relação ao número de clientes e do nível de renda deste, a adimplência observada em seus portfólios e a estrutura do setor de microfinanças em termos da quantidade e dos tipos de instituições existentes. Argumenta-se que cada elemento da regulação possui um efeito distinto sobre um ou mais desses aspectos, que são colocados à prova em dois estudos de caso. O primeiro é o caso brasileiro, no qual a evolução da regulamentação parece ter favorecido, até certo ponto, o predomínio de instituições públicas e no setor de microcrédito. Por sua vez, a regulamentação mexicana teria atuado no sentido oposto, favorecendo a formação de um grande número de instituições privadas, muitas das quais de pequeno porte. / This research aims at analyzing the effects of financial regulation over different aspects of the microfinance sector. Therefore, at first it identifies on the specialized literature hypothesis that point to four variables considered more sensible to the effects of financial regulation and supervision. Those are the financial sustainability of institutions, their outreach in terms of breadth as well as depth, the levels of loan losses in their portfolios and the very own structure of the microfinance sector regarding the quantity and the types of existing institutions. We argue that each aspect of financial regulation presents distinct effects over the variables above, and we put them to test by employing two case studies. The first focuses on Brazil, where the regulatory evolution appears to have benefited, up to a certain point, the dominance of public institutions on the microfinance sector. On the other hand, we look at the Mexican case, where we can find a great number of small sized private institutions. Therefore, financial regulation seems to have had so far the opposite effect it had in Brazil.

Microfinance for-profit organizations flooded the market in the early 2000's when microcredit demonstrated profitability. Ever since, an intense debate arose contesting the morality of profiting from the poor. Many for-profit micro finance institutions were accused of predatory lending through high interest rates and aggressive marketing and payment collection. In this paper, I examine the validity of the arguments for and against for-profits by extensively comparing the different target audiences of the charity sector and the private sector and the main arguments of each side. I conclude that, although the ability to serve the poor is compromised by profit motives, for-profit micro finance organizations are serving a different market - and a much needed one - than nonprofits. Therefore, for-profits serve a function that, as of right now, nonprofits are not able to.