Academic literature on the topic 'Microfinance – Zimbabwe'

This paper looked at determinants of profitability of microfinance institutions operating in Zimbabwe. The study employed case study approach on one credit-only MFI in Zimbabwe. Using Multiple Regression Techniques, the study identified profitability determinants in the Zimbabwean microfinance industry using 2011-2015 monthly data. Major findings were that ROA and ROE are influenced differently by cost efficiency ratio, cost per borrower ratio and GNU. The study showed that both ROA and ROE are negatively influenced by cost efficiency and cost per borrower ratios. The identified relationship supports the X-efficiency hypothesis which assumes negative relationship between cost/income ratio and profitability. ROA model detected GNU as significant variable and according to results, the variable has negative influence on ROA. To improve profitability in the Zimbabwean microfinance industry, the researcher recommends MFI managers to closely monitor cost efficiency and cost per borrower ratios. The study also roped in government as key stakeholder in driving profitability within the microfinance industry. The study recommends Zimbabwean government to pursue consistency in its political policies as well as systems.

Microfinance has been viewed as a pathway for smallholder farming. This paper aims to investigate the impact of microfinance on smallholder farming. It examines the role of microfinance in the development of smallholder farming. This paper employs the integrated view of microfinance study as opposed to the ‘credit only’(minimalist) view. Using qualitative research methodology, the paper relies on literature review and primary data. Household level data (primary) were collected from a rural district (Masvingo Rural District) of Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. Data were collected from 250 microfinance participants (household heads) using questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. The findings show that microfinance had positive effects on accumulation of agricultural assets, income from agriculture, agricultural education, agricultural productivity, agri-business, consumption and health. However, the impact is limited due to lack of finance. Basic financial services are essential for the management of their smallholder farming activities. The practical implications are that the study results could be used by the government and development agencies for policy making. The paper recommends that microfinance should be harnessed as a useful intervention that can be employed to economically empower the smallholder rural agricultural sector. Keywords: microfinance, smallholder farming, integrated view, minimalist view. JEL Classification: G21, O13

The main aim of this paper is to propose the development of a new microfinance model that can approximate sustainability in Zimbabwe. The secondary purpose is to find out whether the same model can be replicated in other developing countries. The paper adopted a mixed methodology. A crosssectional data collection method was preferred because data was collected during the time of high volatility in the country. Questionnaires, interview schedules were combined to collect data from villagers involved in microfinance programmes. Data were collected from 250 households in the Masvingo rural district area of Zimbabwe. The findings show that the two polar models are biased, hence the need for the ‘middle of the road approach’/‘hybrid model’ for the provision of microfinance services to the poor in order to achieve the twin objectives of poverty alleviation and sustainability. The paper is limited to a Masvingo district of Zimbabwe, thus replication could become a challenge. This article attempts to develop a ‘middle of the road’ model for microfinance in Zimbabwe. According to our knowledge, there is no study that has attempted to do the same.

Abstract This paper analyses the new Microfinance Act [Chapter 24: 29] in order to reveal the shortcomings in the law and to suggest areas of possible improvement. The study was carried out using a purely desktop legal research method wherein a critical review of the piece of legislation was done against the theory surrounding microfinance business principles. The study concluded that the new Microfinance Act in Zimbabwe has a considerable number of shortcomings born out of both drafting loopholes and outright lack of thrust of principles promotive of the growth of the microfinance sector in the country.

<div><p><em>The study seeks to evaluate the effect of the current tax regulatory regime on the sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Masvingo urban. Many governments raise public finance through the taxation of individuals and the business community. Undertaking of this study was mainly motivated by the increase in the number of microfinance institutions after the introduction of the multicurrency system in 2009, but the government is failing to meet its revenue targets. The study was done on 24 loan officers and 8 managers of MFIs. Data was collected using a Likert scale questionnaire. Quantitative data was presented using SPSS. This study found that a tax regulation can enhance the sustainability of MFIs if properly simplified to promote investment in microfinance business through provision of tax exemptions, tax incentives, free registration, simplified record keeping procedures, and reduced tax rates. The study recommends that MFIs should not be heavily taxed if they are to meet a major objective of poverty alleviation. </em></p></div>

This paper sought to shed light on the status of rural banking and financial exclusion in Zimbabwe. Various reasons put forth by existing commercial banks were examined to understand why a large population of the country remains unbanked. These ranged from perceptions of the rural communities being too poor to need financial services to real economic and business decisions. Various literature on banking the poor and success stories from other countries were discussed in the literature. To meet the objectives of the study, data gathered from various individuals, commercial banks and microfinance institutions based in Matabeleland North was analysed. It was found that the rural population is in fact largely bankable. However, due to inadequate basic infrastructure in the rural areas, it did not make business sense for established banks to service that population. Banks exist to make a profit and the burden of ensuring financial inclusion of the rural population was left mainly to microfinance institutions which however faced a serious of challenges ranging.

The gender dimension of poverty focuses on the dilemma of women, their numerous roles as women and their role in dealing with poverty. In many developing countries, women are discriminated upon in terms of their access to capital means of production; basic needs support, employment opportunities and access to credit facilities. In Zimbabwe, like in many developing countries, empowering women through micro-credit finance is viewed as a means of reducing women poverty, empowering them, reducing their vulnerability and improving their well-being especially in the rural areas. This paper discusses the role of the government of Zimbabwe in empowering rural women through the introduction Women Development Fund (WDF). The study was carried out in Umguza district in Matabeleland North province of Zimbabwe. The study employed mainly purposive sampling and data was collected using questionnaire, key informant interviews, focus group discussion observation and oral history. Research revealed that WDF as a strategy has made a difference in the livelihoods of the recipients through initiation of income generating projects. However the major handicap with WDF is that the amount of money given are small and that it was employed in isolate hence the need to have complementary initiatives such as capacity building, market networking among others.

In assessing microfinance institutions (MFIs) and civil servants' perspectives on borrowing in Zimbabwe, we examine the purpose and rationale of MFIs establishments. Thus, in an attempt to understand the reason behind high borrowing, we also considered loan terms, the nature of loans issued, and the uses of MFIs borrowed funds among households. Driven by the exploratory approach, qualitative research involving semi-structured interviews and observation methods were applied in this study. Using, the purpose of the loan, pricing of loans, repayment terms, and loan terms, interview questions were designed and conducted. Our results show that MFIs loans are: short term loans, income (salary) based; and, these loans are mainly for immediate household consumption needs not an investment. This study also indicates that loan application requirements are more favorable for employed households, especially public sector employees. Even though civil servants have a better advantage in accessing MFIs loans, in the long run, they are likely to remain in poverty; since their purpose of borrowing is geared towards family expenses. Also, MFIs prevailing interest rates (high), evidenced with shorter repayment periods, reflect their failure to pull borrowers out of poverty; however, creating an interdependence syndrome of continuous borrowing. Since we focused on lending practices of households, our results serve as a basis of a joint policy formulation in combating poverty. Thus, understanding poverty through the borrowing of employed citizens aids in grasping the interconnectedness of sectors; which, is an essential tool for sustainable development and strategic planning.

This study is an investigation into poverty coping strategies of microfinance and its social performance in crisis environments using empirical evidence from Zimbabwe. Microfinance has close association with informal microcredit, mainly self-help schemes and Government led rural agricultural credit, which was based on the idea of lending for the poor up to the 1960s through to the early 1970s. Whilst informal microcredit was viewed to be a success on many forms for some decades, it was clear that tailor-made changes were needed to respond specifically to the poor’s financial needs and help them fight poverty. Thus, it was seen as necessary to experiment on an institution based/formal financial service sector for the poor in the late 1970s through to the 1990s, which could perhaps tackle poverty reduction more systematically and effectively. In this, microcredit transformed into microfinance having incorporated more financial services on offer in addition to credit and was regarded as the new step forward and backed by several development agencies including the United Nations. In fact, microfinance was hailed as the most innovative poverty alleviation tool, able to deal with poverty whilst at the same time generating sufficient extra income to cover operating costs. Over four decades on since its inception, the microfinance sector has grown tremendously but, as is commonly acknowledged, the shackles of global poverty are just as visible as ever and in some cases are even stronger. This study critically explores and analyses the state of the microfinance sector in Zimbabwe following a recent political, economic and social crisis characterised by hyperinflation reaching six figure digits, which led to a revamp of the microfinance sector in 2009. The findings this study reflect a systematic departure of the original hopes and ideals of microfinance as a poverty-reduction centred programming to that of a profit-led business approach and the emergence of a new breed of microfinance institutions (MFIs). In this new world of “microfinance”, very poor social performance causing distressful situations for borrowers where in certain instances have been known to take their own lives (as In India) due to debt pressures has been witnessed. Ironically, also visible are the microfinance millionaires and successful MFI banks floating on the stock. Not surprisingly, as a result, microfinance has attracted a lot of public scrutiny particularly among academics and policy makers with its credibility as a poverty alleviation tool being seriously questioned. Consequently, both the supporters of microfinance wanting to prove that microfinance reduces poverty as well as the critics of microfinance wishing to discredit those results have carried out several randomised-control trials (RCT) impact studies. In some cases previous studies that had claimed that microfinance reduces poverty were revisited by opposing academics in an effort to refute findings. However, both supporters and critics each found just as much evidence for both positive impact in reducing poverty in some places as well as the negative impact on poverty elsewhere. Neither side could be conclusive about whether microfinance actually does help to reduce poverty. As discussed in the literature review, this resulted in a surge in the number of available studies on the subject of microfinance impact, prompting even more systematic reviews of such studies in an attempt to reconcile the critical question of the role of microfinance in poverty reduction. As before, the systematic reviews also confirmed just as much evidence in favour of microfinance positive impacts on poverty as those against in the negative impacts, thereby failing yet again to provide conclusive evidence on either side of the argument. Such arguments suggest that microfinance delivered in a certain way and under certain conditions can help reduce poverty, but may equally have little effect at all on poverty or can even worsen the poverty situation of individuals when delivered under certain conditions and in a certain way. To the best of my knowledge, no known previous studies have attempted to associate the model of microfinance delivery and conditions to ascertain whether different forms of microfinance operations can produce different impact on poverty even where conditions are similar in order to inform best practice for social performance and help poor individuals to cope with high income-risks. High income-risk is part of life for most people in Zimbabwe as in other developing countries. Zimbabwe was affected by frequent droughts, political turmoil, extreme economic challenges due to sanctions and questionable economic policies between 2000 and 2008, and finally the global financial crisis of 2007/8, creating extraordinarily harsh operating environment for microfinance institutions, characterised by depleted loan portfolio investment, skyrocketing inflation eroding the loan book value and growing default rates. The country’s GDP declined by about 40 percent during the period. Hyperinflation in 2007-2008 peaked at 500 billion percent leading to the collapse of the national currency in February 2009. The Zimbabwean dollar disappeared from circulation in instant literarily forcing MFIs and other financial institutions to freeze all balances in their books which was in local currency and raise new capital in the US dollar and South African Rand. The political and economic challenges negatively affected the Zimbabwean microfinance “industry,” causing the sector to suffer significantly. Both the number of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the country and the quality and range of services were eroded. Capital, social performance, and viability concerns plagued the microfinance sector forcing the government to introduce sector specific regulation with immediate minimum capital requirement for MFIs resulting in small institutions leaving the market, increasing monopoly by large institutions. Within this uncertainty of the role and effectiveness of microfinance in poverty reduction, and the difficult political and economic circumstances that Zimbabweans have experienced recently, this study looked at the coping strategies of microfinance stakeholders including practitioners and regulators. It employed an exploratory inductive approach using mixed methods methodology. This included a survey questionnaire using both closed and open-ended questions randomly administered to 60 registered microfinance clients and potential clients collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. In addition, comprehensive case assessments were carried out on 3 MFIs. The assessments concluded that there exist two different approaches to microfinance: (1) the Capital Market Driven (CMD) approach characterised by private equity investments and (2) the Poverty Reduction Driven (PRD) approach characterised by emphasis on poverty alleviation and social performance. This thesis argues that the two approaches may have very different impact on poverty. Therefore, a clear distinction between the CMD and PRD are necessary in debates about microfinance impact, whether positive or negative.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The debate as to whether there is a trade–off between financial sustainability and outreach remains inconclusive among many researchers, therefore this research was conducted to bridge this knowledge gap. The study was conducted in Harare using longitudinal research design and analysed using panel data regression model. The study was conducted for the period of 3 years from 2011 to 2013 on 60 sampled MFIs in Harare. The findings were that MFIs in Harare are very sustainable but their outreach is low as shown by large loan sizes offered to clients. It was further revealed that staff cost per dollar and proportion of female clients are the only variables that affect sustainability of MFIs in Harare. Finally the research revealed that sustainability goals be achieved simultaneously and therefore are compatible. The key contributions to knowledge revealed by the study are as follows: there is a positive relationship between sustainability and outreach. Two variables affect sustainability on MFIs in Harare namely staff cost per dollar and proportion of female clients. The study recommends that Microfinance institutions in Harare should focus on financial sustainability in order to reduce their subsidy dependence, to ensure survival and growth in the future. To the policy makers the study recommends that sustainability does not compromise the outreach to the poor.

Thesis (M. Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2013
Rural areas of Zimbabwe suffered acute shortage of banking services. Conventional banks feared high transaction costs and lack of collateral associated with this market segment. This research aimed at evaluating impact of microfinance on rural farming sector. Finding out the general banking and microfinance situation, appraising scheme impact and making recommendations were the research’s objectives. A descriptive research design was used. A population of 3,400 members constituting 289 Investment Groups (IGs) was used. Quota and purposive sampling were used to select 20 IGs and 154 individual respondents. Sample survey, Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and Key Informant Interviews (KII) were data collection methods. The survey findings showed that the five Department For International Development’s (DFID’s) Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) asset bases increased more for the treatment than the control groups, signifying microfinance impact. Wealth ranking, meant to triangulate survey results, depicted upward mobility of groups; old ones transcending to rich categories while the new moved into top poor rank, also demonstrating impact. Further, scheme achieved women empowerment basing on their numerical predominance and improved self-confidence, signifying impact. The study recommends that Farmers’ Association of Community self-Help Investment Groups (FACHIG) resuscitated its savings component using the Self-Help Group (SHG) thrift approach to ensure scheme sustainability. In addition, climate change, a phenomenon which increased droughts, could have dampened impact. However, the research did not delve into this area, compelling a future study.

The research seeks to explore why women in Zimbabwe still face hindrances in accessing micro finance services and what can be done to meet their needs in a more holistic and effective way. Women play a crucial role in the economic development of their families and communities but are faced with certain obstacles that hinder them from performing their role effectively. Such hindrances as poverty, unemployment, low household income and societal discrimination. UNIFEM (1992) confirms that the majority of the world‟s poor have a predominantly female face and argues that women earn only 10 percent of world‟s income and own less than 10 percent of the world‟s property. African women have been characterised by the lack of empowerment caused by societal perceptions and negative cultural practice. In many cases of women rights violation it has been noted that this has been exacerbated by the over reliance on the male counterpart. Development practitioners have noted that micro finance as one of the strategies needed for women empowerment. Despite the concept having been practiced for at least 15 years now, women still face challenges in accessing micro finance services. There is need for Micro Finance Institutions to recognise the position of women in relation to men as actors in society.

Poverty reduction through microfinance is tied to the belief that access to credit enables poor people to increase business earnings and improve livelihoods. Indeed, the church has often embraced microfinance as part of its theology of social transformation. Microfinance practitioners therefore, have to prudently manage their institutions and ensure improvements in poor people’s lives- a complex combination given that livelihood changes can only be confirmed by people experiencing poverty. This action research aimed to investigate how poor people can inform microfinance practitioners for improved livelihoods. In assessing the efficacy of poor people’s voices, two initial case studies analysed and compared data from the Chinyika Community in rural Zimbabwe, which achieved food security against famine; and the COSUN women’s group of peri-urban Zambia, which was part of a community-driven microfinance initiative. In the next phase of the research, the COSUN group designed and accessed a loan. An innovative aspect of the research is the use of activity theory to frame and theorise the wider social and cultural context of microfinance dialogues and exchanges. The key finding of the research is the value of genuine ‘dialogue space’ where poor people can influence beneficial actions. However, due to limited capacity to recognise root causes of poverty, and lack of informed competence to negotiate livelihood solutions, the efficacy of poor people’s voices will be compromised even where notional dialogue space is afforded. Thus the research identified the need for community dialogue spaces characterised by: enabling contexts for individual and collective agency; structures that enable recourse; alignment of object motives towards benevolent outcomes; capacity to identify root problems; and action triggers before livelihoods deteriorate. The research also identified the need for dialogue spaces between microfinance institutions and community structures in order to respond with appropriate financial products and services that would lead to transformation. The research recommends partnerships with community institutions like the Church who can galvanise social capital and create empowering community dialogue spaces.