Unfinished Business: The Impacts of Small Business Finance

Millions upon millions of poor households in emerging markets depend on micro and small enterprises (MSEs) for their livelihoods. Traditionally, the global development community has viewed finance as a tool to help small entrepreneurs grow their businesses and increase their incomes. However, recent research has cast doubt on this assumption. Over the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that when an MSE leverages financing to turbocharge its growth and increase profitability, it is the exception, not the rule.

So does this mean that MSE finance is not impactful? In reviewing the global literature, CGAP has identified significant gaps in the research: limitations on the questions asked, methods deployed, and geographies and business models studied. In this webinar, experts from CGAP, CFI, Financial Access Initiative, Ohio State University, and The World Bank will discuss these knowledge gaps, whether unidentified impacts may be hiding within them, and what this means for future research and efforts to support the livelihoods of people in emerging markets.