IS AFRICAN MICROFINANCE DIFFERENT? EVIDENCE FROM BANANA SKINS

Banana skins are a “slippery” metaphor for risk and are yearly applied to microfinance with a worldwide survey with sub-sections and geographical segmentations, including also Sub-Saharan Africa. Credit risk is still considered the biggest threat, both globally and in Africa, as a consequence of the unsolved worldwide recession. Also risks related to human resources (concerning management quality, strongly related to staffing, and, in broader terms, to corporate governance issues) are top ranking in Africa, showing evidence of managerial deficiencies which traditionally prove long and hard to overcome. M-banking, shortening the organizational chain with its space-less and timeless virtual branches, stands out as an interesting device to soften the human resources bottleneck, tackling technological risk, even if it needs a strong investment background. This original analysis of African peculiarities shows interesting structural patterns, providing intriguing insights for improvements, in order to soften development bottlenecks, enhancing microfinance sustainability and outreach.