Effectiveness of Microfinance in Poverty Alleviation and Entrepreneurship Opportunities

Abstract

Poverty continues to affect billions of lives worldwide. Microfinance is one of the many tools that strive to end poverty. In particular, microfinance meets the poor need for financial services. The poor have traditionally been excluded from legitimate financial services, but with new financial products, such as group lending, small financial institutions have been able to meet the challenges of lending to the poor. Today micro finance plays a key role in the financial market. The study focuses on the success of small investments in the fight against poverty and entrepreneurial opportunities. This study was made up of baseline data with a sample size of 110 small-scale users selected in a simple random random sample. The study was conducted at ESAF Small Finance Bank in the Trissur region. Identifying awareness of microfinance and its services among its customers. Identifying challenges in obtaining microfinance. Evaluating the effectiveness of small incomes in the fight against poverty Identifying the effectiveness of small incomes in business opportunities. Mathematical tools used in this data collection to analyze simple percentages, Chi-square and ANOVA. The findings of this study revealed the popularity of small amounts of money for its customers and most of the women borrowed from microfinance. Awareness among customers about microfinance and ESAF is very high.