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Microfinance became a popular tool for economic development and poverty alleviation currently. It is adapted by developing nations and in Sub-Saharan Africa as a tool/strategy for economic development. The active poor are excluded from the formal finance sector due to lack of collateral as a result of poverty. However the poor constitute the largest proportion of the bankable populace in developing countries. This also renders the active poor a potential market for exploitation by MNCs. The microfinance phenomenon is introduced in Ghana to alleviate poverty and extend formal financial services to the poor. In order to achieve the poverty alleviation, include the excluded and remain sustainable, needs innovative policy and services. These can only be done by assessing the extent of change in beneficiaries as a result of the microfinance intervention, hence assessing the effects of microfinance in Ghana. It was established that beneficiaries experienced positive impacts as a result of the microfinance intervention. However, there were also some negative effects such as pressure from repayment and family relations.

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Chris Mawuli Hlovor,ACIB Intermediate(Ghana),MSc(Economics and Business Administration) studied masters in Global Innovation Management at Turku school of Economic Finland, PMI (member) USA, Certificate in Business Development at Turku School of Economics, Finland. Over 13years of professional consumer/retail banking

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