Microfinance Interventions and Impact Assessments on Enterprises Growth: Conceptual Model, Methodologies and Approaches

Microfinance institutions are considered to be a strategic tool for the poverty reduction in the developing countries. However, the methodological procedures to assess their impacts on the enterprise growth are scantly developed. This paper therefore intends to develop a conceptual and methodological framework for examining the impact of the microfinance interventions on the growth of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) particularly for the developing countries. Following the theoretical discussions presented in this paper a conceptual framework is developed to show interrelated variables that should be assessed in examining the impact of microfinance intervention. From the framework, different methodologies are suggested in order to obtain accurate information that can explain the actual impact of the microfinance intervention.