Please use this form to submit your study for inclusion into our database. It will be checked by a member of the Innovation Growth Lab team, who may be in contact to ask for more information. Your email address * Your name * Title * The name of the study Short summary A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>The income flows of micro and small business owners in developing countries are usually quite irregular and hard to predict. Microloans by microfinance institutions (MFIs) from around the developing world generally follow very rigid repayment schedules beginning immediately after the loan disbursement. Such repayment structures are unfit to support investments in technology or other solutions to expand the business, as these generally take longer to pay off. Additionally, these repayment structure does not match well with the seasonal and unpredictable income streams typical of microenterprises.</p> <p> This project aims to contribute to current microfinance research and practices, through the design and testing of the viability and impact of improved loan products, which include flexibility in the repayment plan. Our study’s primary objective is to help microfinance institutions improve their financial products to better address the needs of their clients.</p> <p> In this study, we will work with Kiva and Fundacion Mario Santo Domingo (FMSD) to design a flexible loan product and test it rigorously through an RCT. The flexible loan will allow clients to adjust their repayment plans within pre-defined limits, so that clients will be able to cope with unexpected shocks to their household or business income, and invest their loans more productively.</p> <p><em><strong><a href="https://www.innovationgrowthlab.org/content/give-me-pass-flexible-credit-entrepreneurs-colombia">The findings are now published in a working paper</a></strong></em>.</p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links https://www.poverty-action.org/study/impact-flexible-credit-entrepreneurs-colombia Links to any published papers and related discussions Authors * Affiliations Academic and other institutes that the authors of the study are members of Delivery partner Organisations involved in delivering the trial, if appropriate Year Year Year199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026 Month MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Day Day12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 Journal Journal publishing the study, if available Publication stage * Working Paper Published Ongoing Research Forthcoming Discussion Paper Research theme * Entrepreneurship Innovation Business Growth Country Country or countries where this study took place. Topics What sort of topics does the study cover? Sample attributes Hypotheses / research question How can microfinance products be better designed to meet the needs of their clients? Sample Trial population and sample selection Existing MFI clients Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description Improved loans, which include pre-defined and limited flexibility in the loan repayment plan, were offered to a subset of MFI clients. Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables <p>Intervention: flexible repayment terms for loans; Outcomes: Take up analysis, Selection analysis,product analysis conditional on selection: Investments of the borrowers, Usage of loan, Repayment behavior, Business activity, Stress levels, Capacity to face negative shocks</p> Results <p>Pending</p> Intervention costs Cost benefit ratio Reference Karlan, D., Brune, L., Giné, X. (forthcoming). 'The Impact of Flexible Credit for Entrepreneurs in Colombia'. Ongoing research. Citation for use in academic references
