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Is the goal of microfinance to lift people out of poverty or financial access for all? This was the opening debate of the 8th European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) conference. The event, which is held each November in Luxembourg, attracted 380 delegates from 59 countries and was opened by HRH the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, an engaged and knowledgeable supporter of microfinance.
Opening the debate, Michael Chu, managing director of the IGNIA fund and senior lecturer at Harvard, argued for microfinance institutions (MFIs) to be judged on what they do: “They remove the obstacle of access to finance”. Long term, businesses can and do fail, he continued; it is not appropriate to judge them on long-term social impact. Taking the opposite view, Suresh Krishna of Grameen...
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