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Priscilla Serwaah

Priscilla Serwaah
MSc Business Administration
Handelshøyskolen ved UiA
02. mai 2017

Microfinancing

A dataset from the Microfinance industry that includes more than 250 hundred variables from up to 15 financial years have been extracted from the rated reports. The inputting of the data was basically done for new reports on exsisting Microfinance Institutions and well as new institutions were added as when they are discovered.Dissemination is an important component of the research process. Great effort and time goes into conducting research. Research work is valuable and can transform lives but only if the findings of research are widely shared with those that can influence policy and practice.

In this Microfinance project I worked directly with Professor Roy Mersland and Celeste de La Huerta. A dataset from the Microfinance industry that includes more than 250 hundred variables from up to 15 financial years have been extracted from the reports. The variables have been selected based on a combination of theoretical interest and availability. The rating agencies differ in their emphasis and abundance of available information. The inputting of the data was basically done for new reports on exsisting Microfinance Institutions and well as new institutions were added as when they are discovered. The data inputting requires some training since at a glance it is very difficult to known how a particular variable is extracted from the reports.

Dissemination is an important component of the research process. Great effort and time goes into conducting research. Research work is valuable and can transform lives but only if the findings of research are widely shared with those that can influence policy and practice. Therefore, dissemination of research to a wide audience increases its impact.

Professor Roy Mersland at the Business School has an extensive number of publications from the Microfinance Industry which he has conducted using the aforementioned dataset. His research expands from the characteristics of CEO’s, to the treatment of disabled clients in microfinance institutions, to gender issues in microfinance. The microfinance industry provides a broad range of financial services to poor and low-income households to help them improve their living standards. Practitioners, organizations and people in the microfinance industry would benefit tremendously from the conclusions and recommendations of research to improve their own work. Other researchers in the topic need to know about the results of research so that they can build on and further develop the findings, rather than wasting time and funding in duplication. Each of these groups finds information in diverse ways, so it is important to share research findings through as many channels as possible. There are many opportunities and a myriad of diverse ways to disseminate research results. The uploading, checking and dissemination of the articles was done in Research Gate, Academia and SSRN.