Microfinance: Employers' Guide

This guide seeks to assist employers’ organizations (EOs) in developing and defining an appropriate role in national microfinance strategies.

The information for this guide was gathered from International Organisation of Employers (IOE) member organizations in 2005 as part of the ongoing work of the Secretariat. It outlines the different approaches employers’ organizations can take and provides some examples of their activities and those of their member companies in this area.

The guide provides a number of cases that illustrate the different levels of involvement of EOs in microfinance and access to finance, ranging from information exchange and referral services to advocacy and lobbying on everything from interest rate policies to actually providing, via a subordinated agency, risk-sharing instruments that facilitate access to finance. It provides information to EOs on:

• Shaping an advocacy role;
• Guiding government policy;
• Providing guidance to prospective entrepreneurs;
• Working with MFIs;
• Harnessing remittances;
• Playing a direct role through the establishment of a separate entity.