As we know, I’m deeply interested in the possibilities for MicroFinance, preferably the classic “Grameen’ model, in West Africa.
Hmmmm..well, everybody and I mean everybody is very high on microfinance in Ghana. I’ve even had 10 and 12-year-olds sliding up to me in schools asking if I can introduce them to a good microfinance operation! OK, perhaps that is an exaggeration but you get the point – everybody has heard of it, has heard that it can work magic…Money For Nothing, etc.
The reality of course is that there is nothing remotely resembling a Grameen operation in the country and that with microfinance completely unregulated it is completely uncoordinated, mostly very small-scale, and pops up in one place but not in a neighboring village or small town.