Webster Mate
, Association of Microfinance Institutions of Zambia, Zambia
26 October 2020
This is a great article that I hope will compel microfinance leaders to begin thinking seriously about the sustainability of their institutions in the wake of Covid-19 but also in the midst of the new offers that digital technology is bringing to the financial services space, e.g. mobile phone loans, which are competing with MFIs. However, looking at what is happening on the ground, one does not seem to see any efforts (unless the leaders are being modest about what they are doing and not ready to share with others yet) being made by institutions to address the issues raised in the article. Perhaps, rather than leave this matter to individual institutions or microfinance retail networks it would be better for CGAP and others providing global leadership in the development of microfinance to take the initiative and lead, before we start witnessing the collapse of more MFIs, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This is a great article that I hope will compel microfinance leaders to begin thinking seriously about the sustainability of their institutions in the wake of Covid-19 but also in the midst of the new offers that digital technology is bringing to the financial services space, e.g. mobile phone loans, which are competing with MFIs. However, looking at what is happening on the ground, one does not seem to see any efforts (unless the leaders are being modest about what they are doing and not ready to share with others yet) being made by institutions to address the issues raised in the article. Perhaps, rather than leave this matter to individual institutions or microfinance retail networks it would be better for CGAP and others providing global leadership in the development of microfinance to take the initiative and lead, before we start witnessing the collapse of more MFIs, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.