Abstract
ABSTRACT Purpose: This study aims to analyze a model of credit union, which allows meeting demands of microcredit of family farmers in a responsible way, identifying the real needs of clients and promoting financial access. Originality/value: In recent years, the microfinance community has witnessed unwanted consequences of microcredit misuse. We present an original approach about the way credit unions may achieve their target in a responsible way, offering appropriate products, services and training to the entire community involved. Design/methodology/approach: Through secondary data and interviews with decision makers and credit union members, we studied the case of Cresol Baser, a large credit union in Brazil. We analyzed data based on inductive theorizing. First and second-order themes were identified, resulting in a procedural model, representing relationships between responsible microfinance factors. Findings: The three main dimensions in the model of inclusive microfinance - conditions, proximity, and access - were integrated in order to promote a dynamic that respects the assumption of a responsible financial inclusion with regards to design, offer and access of products and services related to microfinance.
Highlights
Data from World Bank reports that around 2.5-billion working-age adults globally live without access to the types of financial services we take for granted
This study aims to analyze a model of credit union, which allows meeting demands of microcredit of family farmers in a responsible way, identifying the real needs of clients and promoting financial access
We present an original approach about the way credit unions may achieve their target in a responsible way, offering appropriate products, services and training to the entire community involved
Summary
Data from World Bank reports that around 2.5-billion working-age adults globally live without access to the types of financial services we take for granted Without these services, they rely on informal mechanisms that tend to worsen their already deprived economic situation (Ledgerwood, Earne, & Candace, 2013). Building financial inclusiveness requires more than institutional expansion and portfolio growing, as occurred over the last decades It comprises equipping and informing clients on how to use products and services. The narrow focus on the institution and its performance that endured since the seventies has changed to a much broader focus on clients Understanding their behavior, identifying financial service needs, and finding ways to better meet these needs have being some of the concerns of researchers, governments and private institutions (Ledgerwood, Earne, & Candace, 2013)
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