Searching: Research & Analysis

Business Her Own Way: Creating Livelihoods Through Informal Online Commerce

This Focus Note outlines the characteristics of IOC, maps the personas of the women who engage in it, and provides guidance to funders looking to support women to generate livelihoods through IOC.

Basic Regulatory Enablers for Digital Financial Services

CGAP shows how an enabling regulatory framework that is based on four enablers has contributed to advancing digital financial services in 10 countries.

National Survey and Segmentation of Smallholder Households in Bangladesh

CGAP conducted a nationally representative survey of smallholder households in Bangladesh in 2016. The survey explored the agricultural and nonagricultural activities, financial practices and interests, and challenges and aspirations of smallholder families in Bangladesh.

CGAP Smallholder Household Surveys: Bangladesh User Guide

This Data Set User's Guide provides information on the methodology used for the 2016 CGAP Smallholder Household Surveys in Bangladesh.

bKash Bangladesh: A Fast Start for Mobile Financial Services

bKash launched in the second half of 2011, grew to 2 million accounts by the end of 2012, and shot up to 11 million registered accounts by the end of 2013.

A Microcredit Crisis Averted: The Case of Bangladesh

After years of strong growth, the microfinance industry in Bangladesh was on the verge of a sharp change in direction, when the big 4 MFIs began to cut back on branches and staff in 2008.

Household Interviews in Bangladesh, 2013

As part of research for the CGAP Focus Note "A Microcredit Crisis Averted: The Case of Bangladesh," by Greg Chen and Stuart Rutherford, Rutherford and S. K. Sinha interviewed 43 low-income rural Bangladeshi households.

Competition and Microcredit Interest Rates

In many countries, including Uganda, Bangladesh, and Bolivia, microfinance has become more competitive in recent years. Competition is generally expected to benefit consumers by offering a wider choice of appropriate products and providers, better service, and lower prices.

Linking Microfinance and Safety Net Programs to Include the Poorest

Most studies of microfinance programs in Bangladesh indicate that the poor, and especially poor women, have been effectively targeted, and that microfinance programs have been successful in opening up economic opportunities for their clients, increasing access to resources and contributing to their confidence and well-being.

Exploring Client Preferences in Microfinance

Microfinance products tend to be uniform across large geographic areas. For example, in Bangladesh most microfinance institutions (MFIs) offer some variant of the product pioneered by Grameen Bank—a loan with a term of about a year, repaid in frequent (usually weekly) installments, given in a group context, ostensibly for micro-enterprise use, and with a compulsory savings element.