A Survey of the Perception of the Services of Micro Finance Institutions by the Female Service Users in Benin City, South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examines the perceptions of the services of the micro finance Institutions by the women service users, and how the services of micro Institutions affect businesses of the beneficiaries of the micro credit loans. The research design for the study was the survey method. The instruments of data collection were structured questionnaires and in-depth interview. A total of 450 questionnaires were administered to the female participants, and senior management personnel of the micro credit institutions were interviewed. The cluster and simple random sampling were used to select the participants for the study. The leaders of registered unions were the informants. The result reveals that the poor services and attitude of officials of micro finance institutions and other problems like the regressive tax regimes, harsh economic climate and patriarchy are negatively affecting the business ventures of the loan beneficiaries and by implication the goals of poverty reduction via micro credit scheme . The women beneficiaries are groaning under the burden of loan repayment and meeting other obligations as mothers and wives. This study is applicable in the context of social policy development at this time when social services delivery is not only poor but at dismal level. The need for gender sensitive and social development becomes imperative. It is critical to social work practice in the context of advocacy, empowerment programs, facilitating and initiating service delivery and Community organizing by social workers that will enhance the war against Poverty and other social impediments against women empowerment in Nigeria.

Characterisation of smallholder resettled sugarcane farmers and their perceptions towards microfinance in Zimbabwe (Chiredzi)

“…Literature on the perceptions of various groups of the economy towards microfinance is still limited. Exceptions are the works of Long, (2009), Ugiagbe (2014) and Sajan (2021) who, however generalised the perceptions towards microfinance and, as a result, the attitudes presented in the research were positive.Therefore, these studies failed to narrow the perceptions of microfinance users and potential users to microfinance variables which this study managed to do by assessing the smallholder farmer perceptions towards microfinance institutional variables (interest rates, payback period, grace period, microcredit size, processing period and processing fees). The perception studies also did not take into account that non-borrowers/non-participants in microcredit also have their feelings about microfinance.…”

The impact of microfinance to borrowers. business, personal and financial status and the mediating role of service satisfaction: evidence from the Philippines

“…Level of education of micro nance borrowers can affect their satisfaction to loan feature aspect of micro nance institution, as the level of education of the client increases, they become less satis ed to the loan feature offered by the MFI. Study of Ugiagbe (2014) also found that there is a little signi cance in the perception of respondents to the interest rate and their level of education. A common nding over the years is that individuals tend to be more satis ed with services that they have had direct experience of using compared to public services in general (Appleby and Alvarez-Rosete 203, Goodsell 1990); Therefore, the level of direct use of services is likely to be an important variable in the context of satisfaction and expectations.…”