Paper
National Impact Survey of Microfinance in Egypt
Assessing impact of financial services provided to Egyptian microentrepreneurs
This paper presents findings from a national impact survey of the microfinance sector in Egypt, conducted by PlaNet Finance from September 2007 to January 2008.
PlaNet Finance carried out 2,470 interviews as well six focus group discussions with clients of Egyptian MFIs. The study used PlaNet Finances Impact-Knowledge-Market (IKM) methodology. Findings include:
- Microfinance in Egypt has a positive impact on enterprise development, and has led to the creation of new businesses;
- Microentrepreneurs in Egypt perceive a positive impact of microfinance on their overall well-being and quality of life;
- 72 percent of microentrepreneurs use their loan primarily for business purposes;
- Microfinance clients in Egypt are satisfied with their MFIs and the services provided;
- Most of the respondents acquired the skills for their project on their own or from relatives, without any specific organized training.
The paper recommends that MFIs increase depth and breadth of outreach, develop new products, become more client focused and train staff to train clients in business development. Donors and governmental authorities need to support MFIs to implement product services expansion.
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