Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2015
Microenterprise programs (MEPs) have become an important research concern and rural development strategy in international development circles. The basic premise of this approach is that microenterprises , that is firms with fewer than 10 employees, can be provided with a series of small loans that allow them to start or expand productive activities and thereby increase incomes and escape poverty. Governments and donor agencies have expanded funding for microfinance programs in low-income countries and more articles appear in the Western media about the success of this new approach in assisting the poor.