Environmental disaster and women self‐sustainability—A survey study on microfinance female clientele in Pakistan

Abstract

The prime objective of this study is to investigate the role of microfinance institutions towards women's self‐sustainability in Pakistan because women are the most vulnerable community in Pakistan and in the world, too. Due to various issues like gender discrimination, women's self‐sustainability is quite low, and this accounts for the negligible contribution of women in Pakistan's economy (up to 20 to 25%). In addressing this issue, the current study adopted a quantitative research approach and cross‐sectional research design. By using a survey questionnaire, data were collected from female clients of microfinance institutions during May 1, 2018 to August 30, 2018. SmartPLS 3 was utilized to analyse the data. The results of the inquiry revealed that microfinance institutions have an essential role to play in promoting women's self‐reliance. With the help of micro‐enterprises for women, services offered by microfinance institution such as micro‐credit, micro‐savings, micro‐insurance, micro‐training and social capital have a major role in developing women's self‐sustainability. However, an environmental disaster is one of the crucial factors, which limits the positive contribution of microfinance institutions towards women's self‐sustainability. Our thorough research and knowledge on the subject indicates that the current study is the pioneer study that has investigated microfinance institutions as major facilitators of women's self‐reliance but which has been limited by many factors such as environmental disasters. Hence, the current study appears salient for microfinance institutions, the government of Pakistan and other practitioners that desire to boost women's self‐sustainability.

Microfinance towards micro-enterprises development in rural Malaysia through digital finance

“…The previous studies [ 15 , 19 ] found microfinance services assisting clients in starting new businesses had a favourable impact on ME growth and increased business activities. Clients of microfinance programmes experienced a growth in their microbusiness [ 40 ]. Similarly, Ul-Hameed et al [ 82 ] discovered that microfinance services have a favourable impact on the growth of businesses and the ability of low-income households to start new businesses.…”

“…The three main financial services offered by the microfinance programme are micro-credit, micro-savings, and micro-insurance. These services are often recognized as necessary for business growth, and development [ 40 ].…”

“…Therefore, it raises the success rate of MEs, which helps to ensure their sustainability in BOP market. Micro-credit and micro-enterprises have also been proven to have a strong beneficial relationship in several research [ 26 , 40 ]. It also improves business dedication, which boosts satisfaction and motivation [ 51 ].…”

“…Microfinance is a sort of financial paradigm in which financial firms offer a range of high-quality financial services to everyone, including poor entrepreneurs [ 21 ]. When compared to typical financial companies, microfinance institutions' main goal is to make economical financial services more accessible to underprivileged clients [ 40 ]. As a result, microfinance is critical for alleviating poverty through fostering the development of rural MEs.…”

“…The access to finance is most important for the rural entrepreneurs’ growth and development [ 38 ]. MEs required different sources of financial help to get eligible outcome but it always been unable to access such funds from anywhere because of their improper financial statement, limited assets or savings and lack of developed business plans [ 40 ]. Banks or commercial institutions only entertained those who are already established in their area and access to credit are very easy for them.…”