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Microfinance Market Niches And Client Profiles In Bolivia

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Listed:
  • Gonzalez-Vega, Claudio
  • Meyer, Richard L.
  • Navajas, Sergio
  • Schreiner, Mark
  • Rodriguez-Meza, Jorge
  • Monje, Guillermo F.

Abstract

This paper presents and interprets descriptive statistics generated from data obtained in a survey of clients of five microfinance organizations believed to be among the best in Bolivia. These lenders represent different combinations of organizational design, lending technology, and market area of operations. Two are regulated financial intermediaries and three are NGOs. Two operate in rural areas (PRODEM and Sartawi) and three operate in urban areas (BancoSol, FIE, and Caja Los Andes). Two offer individual loans and three grant loans through joint liability groups. The paper discusses household-enterprise profiles of a sample of 622 clients and identifies terms and conditions of loan contracts with these organizations to evaluate the depth and quality of their outreach. The interpretation seeks to establish connections between key characteristics of the clients and features of the lending technologies that lead to the matching of classes of borrowers with particular organizations and that influence the choice of market niches. Data on loan sizes suggest the existence of different but broadly overlapping market niches associated with three tiers of clients. The sharpest distinction is between urban and rural clients. The matching between clients and organizations also reflects a weak but positive correlation between levels of poverty and loan sizes. According to an index of basic needs fulfillment of their clients, these organizations can be ranked as: FIE and Caja Los Andes (first tier), BancoSol (second tier), and PRODEM and Sartawi (third tier). The same ranking is obtained when clients are ordered according to loan size, the ratio of loan size to the value of sales, and the value of monthly sales. The three tiers of clients are associated with different socio-economic features of their household-enterprises: sex, education, household size, access to electricity, water supplies, and sewage facilities, employment-generating capacity of the enterprise, informality and separation of household and enterprise, occupations and the like. The development of lending technologies that do not rely on standard financial statements and collateralizable assets is a formidable innovation that explains the outreach and sustainability of these organizations. Differences in the guarantees required for loans dominate distinctions in lending technology. Trade-offs between loan size, interest rates, and guarantee requirements attract different subsets of the clientele. Joint liability seems to be appropriate for very poor people, but group borrowers eventually outgrow this relationship. Caja Los Andes and FIE have shown that it is possible to supply individual loans to poor people and be profitable. Most clients are satisfied with the services received. The lowest satisfaction concerns loan sizes and loan-size rationing may be widespread. At least in urban areas, increasing competition will force these organizations to improve their services and adjust loan sizes. All of these organizations are expanding the frontier of microfinance by developing lending technologies for a much poorer clientele than is reached by collateral-based lenders. This is a formidable achievement.

Suggested Citation

  • Gonzalez-Vega, Claudio & Meyer, Richard L. & Navajas, Sergio & Schreiner, Mark & Rodriguez-Meza, Jorge & Monje, Guillermo F., 1996. "Microfinance Market Niches And Client Profiles In Bolivia," Economics and Sociology Occasional Papers - ESO Series 28332, Ohio State University, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ohsesp:28332
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.28332
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gonzalez-Vega, Claudio & Schreiner, Mark & Meyer, Richard L. & Rodriguez-Meza, Jorge & Navajas, Sergio, 1996. "Bancosol: The Challenge Of Growth For Microfinance Organizations," Economics and Sociology Occasional Papers - ESO Series 28333, Ohio State University, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics.
    2. Caprio,Gerard & Atiyas,Izak & Hanson,James A. (ed.), 1996. "Financial Reform," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521574242.
    3. Reinhard H. Schmidt & Claus-Peter Zeitinger, 1996. "Prospects, problems and potential of credit-granting NGOs," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(2), pages 241-258.
    4. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 1995. "Group lending, repayment incentives and social collateral," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    6. Geetha Nagarajan & Richard L. Meyer & Leroy J. Hushak, 1995. "Segmentation in the informal credit markets: the case of the Philippines," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 12(2), pages 171-181, April.
    7. Yaron, Jacob, 1994. "What Makes Rural Finance Institutions Successful?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 9(1), pages 49-70, January.
    8. Nagarajan, Geetha & Meyer, Richard L. & Hushak, Leroy J., 1995. "Segmentation in the informal credit markets: the case of the Philippines," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 171-181, August.
    9. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1990. "Peer Monitoring and Credit Markets," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 4(3), pages 351-366, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Florent Bédécarrats & Isabelle Guérin & François Roubaud, 2019. "All that Glitters is not Gold. The Political Economy of Randomized Evaluations in Development," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(3), pages 735-762, May.
    2. Sergio Navajas & Jonathan Conning & Claudio Gonzalez-Vega, 2003. "Lending technologies, competition and consolidation in the market for microfinance in Bolivia," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(6), pages 747-770.
    3. Navajas, Sergio & Schreiner, Mark & Meyer, Richard L. & Gonzalez-vega, Claudio & Rodriguez-meza, Jorge, 2000. "Microcredit and the Poorest of the Poor: Theory and Evidence from Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 333-346, February.
    4. Florent BEDECARRATS & Isabelle GUERIN & François ROUBAUD, 2017. "L'étalon-or des évaluations randomisées : économie politique des expérimentations aléatoires dans le domaine du développement," Working Paper 753120cd-506f-4c5f-80ed-7, Agence française de développement.
    5. Navajas, Sergio & Schreiner, Mark, 1998. "Apex Organizations And The Growth Of Microfinance In Bolivia," Economics and Sociology Occasional Papers - ESO Series 28324, Ohio State University, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics.
    6. Sandra Kendo & Josephine Tchakounte, 2022. "Impact of asset size on performance and outreach using panel quantile regression with non-additive fixed effects," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 65-92, January.
    7. Mark Schreiner, 2002. "Aspects of outreach: a framework for discussion of the social benefits of microfinance," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(5), pages 591-603.
    8. Werner L. Hernani-Limarino & Paul Villarroel, 2015. "Evaluando el Impacto de Microcréditos en Bolivia - Evidencia del Crédito Productivo Individual – Banco de Desarrollo Productivo," Working Papers 05/2015, Fundación Aru.
    9. Vega, Claudio Gonzalez & Schreiner, Mark & Meyer, Richard L. & Meza, Jorge Rodriguez & Navajas, Sergio, 1996. "Bancosol: El Reto Del Crecimiento En Organizaciones De Microfinanzas," Economics and Sociology Occasional Papers - ESO Series 28328, Ohio State University, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics.
    10. Ulrike Vogelgesang, 2000. "Investigating Microfinance: Caja Los Andes, Bolivia," GK working paper series 2001-01, Post Graduate Programme "Allocation on Financial Markets", University of Mannheim, revised Nov 2001.
    11. Ulrike Vogelgesang, 2001. "The Impact of Microfinance Loans on the Clients' Enterprises: Caja Los Andes, Bolivia," GK working paper series 2001-03, Post Graduate Programme "Allocation on Financial Markets", University of Mannheim, revised Nov 2001.

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    Keywords

    Financial Economics;

    JEL classification:

    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean

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