Big Challenges by a Small Microfinance Institution- A Case Study of SafeSave Bangladesh from the Customer Satisfaction and ICT Introduction Perspective

Abstract

Bangladesh is considered as a birthplace of modern microfinance movement. This movement has mainly been instigated by the various microfinance institutions irrespective of their size. This paper focuses on such an innovative microfinance institution namely SafeSave (SS). SS is definitely unique in that they have adopted information and communication technologies (ICT) and built competence in dealing with vulnerable slum dwellers as a client even though they are a small firm in the market. This study compared the operational uniqueness and performance of SS among large MFIs equipped with ICT and small MFIs without ICT experience. In this context statistical analysis such as unpaired t-test and regression analysis were conducted. Customer satisfaction of SS was higher than other types of MFIs which showed the important lesson for small MFIs without ICT experience. Even though SS is innovative, there are scope to improve the operational mechanism by better management and more efficient information and communication technologies.

Two Sides of the Same Rupee? Comparing Demand for Microcredit and Microsaving in a Framed Field Experiment in Rural Pakistan

“…Formal organisations sometimes play a similar role. Most prominently, the NGO Safe Save provides ‘passbook savings’ accounts, in which clients may make deposits and withdrawals at their house when a collector calls each day (Armendáriz de Aghion and Morduch, ; Dehejia et al ., ; Islam et al ., ; Laureti, ) . Similarly, Ashraf et al .…”

Customer satisfaction with the services of microfinance institutions: Scale development and validation

“…Price positions itself as the first dimension valued by MFI customers in the Kivu. Some previous studies on customer satisfaction and service quality in the banking sector (Athanassopoulos, 1999;Athanassopoulos et al, 2001;Bahia & Nantel, 2010) and the microfinance sector (Barua & Sulaiman, 2012;IFAD, 2007;Islam et al, 2013;Kwane, 2013;Muray, 2001;Rahman, 2006) had highlighted the fact that customers attach the utmost importance to the cost of financial services.…”

Pentagon Performance Model of Indian MFIs

“…Sustainability is measured as the operational self-sufficiency ratio or the financial self-sufficiency ratio (Bogan, 2008) and subsidy dependent index (Manos & Yaron, 2008;Yaron, 1994). The literature reports the role of macro-economic factors (Crabb, 2008), regulatory status (Pati, 2012), asset size (Sekabira, 2013), age (Bogan, 2008), leverage ratio (Hartarska & Nadolnyak, 2007), source of funds (Bogan, 2008), cost structure (Islam, Takanashi & Natori, 2013) and governance (Hartarska & Nadolnyak, 2007) in explaining sustainability. Efficiency assesses the ability of any firm to maximize output with a given set of inputs (Masood & Ahmad, 2012).…”