What is micro-finance and why does it require management?
Microfinance refers to the financial services offered to people that do not have the means or access to traditional banking and finance systems. Due to various reasons, lack of infrastructure for instance and virtually no financial education and financial advise going around amongst low-income neighborhoods and even entire towns and cities- they are unable to use traditional financial services such as investment unions and banks.
Microfinance management courses prepare professionals that want to pursue this field as a career with all the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively apply themselves on the job and produce results. This is a crucial job as India, for all its glory and pride- still has a giant chunk of the population that is underprivileged and deprived of education and resources, in the absence of which they are poorly financially equipped and make bad decisions in the end that damage their situation further.
The government in our country though has taken initiative in the right direction towards spreading financial education and accommodating people from all walks of life into its financial model of operation and extended these services to people in order to allow them to grow and further contribute to the growth of the economy as able upstanding citizens.
Over 265 million people have loans in the microfinance sector of India. The Microfinance Institutions offer small scale or microloans and investment to small businesses and individuals that are otherwise unable to use traditional banking means. Special Microfinance insurance and savings schemes are also run for these folks.
Education and eligibility
Microfinance management courses are very versatile, from as simple as a certification course or a short term training plan to full-fledged diplomas and MBA based on various different levels of expertise and requirements. These courses, the undergrad (diploma) and postgrad (MBA) require at least 60% aggregate marks in the 10+2 and decent background in finance and commerce is appreciated. It isn’t necessary though and people from many different fundamental fields of operations can make a career switch into microfinance management. The most relevant base fields of work that are further eligible for working in microfinance management are Data Scientists, Financial Managers, Accountants, Financial Technology Developers, etc.
An affinity for statistics and maths, a strong foundation in finances and good communication skills are a must for this job and can’t be ignored as necessary skills to be developed. Microfinance management courses are a simpler solution to build these traits and skills in a professional by going through a structured course that is designed to inculcate these skills in the students as a course outcome.
Both traditional and distance learning methods are available for students to pursue a degree in this field and the average course fee is about 15 to 30 thousand rupees per annum based on the choice of Institute this may vary and the price for MBA is considerably higher than the diploma.
Career Prospects, Job Profiles and Salary
MFIs or Microfinance institutions are the sole recruiters in this field but are hundreds of thousands in numbers and given the size of rural Indian population and the state of rustic finances- the sector doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down the hiring of management employees. Human resource, after all, is the lifeline of this field.
The major job profiles that are available in this field are Financial Manager, Financial Analyst, Micro Insurance Manager, Project Manager, Loan Manager, Micro Investment Manager and Business Development Manager. While the scale of things is certainly small in this field, the robust growth in the recent years due to heavy government involvement in the increasing financial awareness of rural India has more than made up for it.
Since this job is directly uplifting the less privileged to a better place by empowering them with capital for their small businesses or loans towards improving quality of life and education- it comes with a high level of importance and job satisfaction. The country’s developing small industries are backed by these microfinance institutions that themselves operate under a complex system of NBFCs.
The salaries offered are reasonable and decent at higher levels of experience. An entry level microfinance manager may earn up to 2.5LPA which increases to 4LPA at the regional manager level (mid-career) and even 6-7LPA at late career experience level.
