Over
the past 18 months we have been noticing a growing tendency to declare
microfinance either an outright failure (on social or financial grounds, or
both), insufficiently “innovative”, or slipping into irrelevance in the face of
new technologies and opportunities.
We’ve heard these sentiments from both industry outsiders – aspiring
impact investors – and insiders, in recent industry meetings and panel discussions,
both in the US and abroad. While the motives may vary, the trend is the same -
investors seem to be losing interest in microfinance.
As
was the case with Mark Twain, we believe that the reports of the death of
microfinance are greatly exaggerated, so we’re going to stick around. Before explaining our continued commitment to
microfinance, though, we explore some of the reasons for the apparent
disillusionment and waning interest and offer our own interpretations…
