bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

You have just earned your first salary!
You can feel the banknotes in your pocket as you happily head back home.
You are determined to save part of it to buy a motorbike. That will  make it easier to go to town rather than walk.
So is there a safe place to keep your money? In the bank, of course.
But for millions of people  around the world, this possibility does not exist. There are no banks around, or at least within a reasonable distance. Imagine! No bank to safeguard  or lend money, and no easy and safe way to transfer money to others.
For a long time, banks have  believed that offering services to very poor people was not profitable. Why?
Opening and managing an  account costs money  and banks don't usually directly charge their customers for it.
Banks have to hire people to deal with customer transactions, whether it is depositing, withdrawing or transferring money, rent out a complex in a central location and buy various equipment, including computers.
So how do people manage their money without banks? When they need to borrow, they usually resort to the 'informal' sector: friends, family or money lenders, who tend to charge very high interest.  With their savings, they can buy jewellery, especially gold,  cattle or land. But  this is a risky strategy (cattle can die, land values can go down, jewellery can be lost) and not liquid (hard to sell quickly).
In the 1970s, some  non-profit institutions started offering banking services to the poorest. And  big banks have started exploring this market as well.
These services are called microfinance.



Lending a helping hand