Photo: Myanmar Insider There is an increasing interest in business in Myanmar as the country opens up its economy to the rest of the world. One of these is financial services, particularly ‘microfinance’ which has evolved from informal moneylenders and stereotyped “loan sharks” into a billion-dollar global industry with commercial investors participating, stock market listing…
An emerging economic order The ASEAN economic integration scheduled to be fully implemented in 2015 will have great impact on the people of the region. Designed to be a common production and marketing unit, goods and services will flow freely among its member-countries and will trigger a survival-of-the-fittest mode for businesses in the region. As…
“Innovation” seems to be the buzzword nowadays in the microfinance industry. Articles with titles like “We need disruption in financial inclusion”(1) or “How Big Data can expand financial opportunities for the world’s poor”(2) or extolling the digital finance “revolution”(3) are commonplace in today’s literature regarding financial inclusion. The belief structure underlying this emphasis on innovation…
A. Microfinance borrowers in Nadi, Fiji, a nation of islands in the Pacific 1. The challenge of serving small/remote communities One of the main challenges in providing financial services to small and remote communities is the number of clients needed to generate a critical mass to have good…
What would you do if there are signs showing that your industry is moving towards sunset? It was met with mixed feelings by participants to the strategic planning workshop for microfinance institutions. The Credit Support Fund (CSF), a wholesale lending facility under the Vietnam Women’s Union (VMU) organized a training-workshop on strategic planning as part…
In an article published in Cambodia Business Review (Issue 9, September 2013) titled Cambodia needs $1Billion to expand Electricity Supply, the energy situation in Cambodia was clearly explained. Currently, the country is not generating enough power and has to source 45% of its energy needs from Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. As a result, the price…
There are two basic microfinance loan products – group loan and individual loan. Group loan scheme is used for very poor clients for them to have a support group, which also functions as the pressure group for defaulters, and to develop financial discipline necessary for a sustained financial access. Individual loan scheme most often is…
One of the criteria in social performance management (SPM) is the social responsibility of the microfinance institution to its staff. MFIs cannot just be focusing on its social mandate without taking into consideration the plight of its staff. The main assumptions are, on the one side, staff that enjoys working with an institution will have…
Cambodia’s economy is on the upward trend for several years, and has continued to grow and attract investors. In the words of Eric Sedgwick, Asian Development Bank Country Director, “Private consumption, exports and investment, including strong and diversified foreign direct investment will all drive economic development in 2013 and 2014.” Among the top contributors to…
Photo source: http://theasiacareertimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/asean.jpg The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is one of the most significant issues nowadays but also the least discussed. When fully implemented in 2015, it is expected to transform the economic environment in the region. The design for the region as a single market and production base is presented in…
