ABSTRACT

A key promise of microfinance is poverty alleviation combined with a notion of economic development and social responsibility. The underlying expectation is that good business can do well, as microfinance institutions can be profitable businesses and jointly play a meaningful part in the quest for poverty alleviation (Armendáriz and Morduch, 2007). This hypothesis is charming but also challenging. Is it really possible that an organization engages 100 per cent in two aims: profit and poverty alleviation? Or will any organization eventually have to accept a trade-off between profit or poverty alleviation?