The Role of Microcredit Initiative on Beneficiary’s Business Sustainability and Livelihood: A Case Study of The KRG Microcredit Program
Student Name: Mohammed Khidir
Globally, researchers conducted several types of studies about the microcredit program or initiatives where they proved the advantages and disadvantages of the program. However, the current studies show that there is a huge impact of microcredit programs on recipients’ livelihood and their business’s effectiveness. The researcher conducted 30 interviews with KRG’s microcredit program where the interviewees asked 28 questions to establish an understanding and gather primary data about the benefits of the program and how it impacts the beneficiary’s livelihood and their business. Furthermore, the researcher conducted interviews with more than 65 interviewees, but only 30 agreed to be part of the study, and they fully agreed to be part of the research. Furthermore, the study used thematic analysis, Microsoft Word, and excel for coding and making themes. Also, the researcher used Microsoft Excel and SPSS version 26 to analyze the data collection. Moreover, the interviewees said that their living conditions changed for the better after they took loans from the KRG’s microcredit program (MP) as they can now depend on themselves rather than others, and for the first time in their life they can think of proving other desire and needs such as a good education service and perfect health care. Secondly, the beneficiaries’ business stability depends on monthly income and productivity as well as the very clear number of employees. The thirty beneficiaries’ monthly income is more than 84 million Iraqi dinars and has 191 employees. These numbers could be few, but 30 beneficiaries are huge numbers because the Kurdistan region is a region that only depends on Baghdad’s budget and its oil exporting to prepare a budget. Thirdly, the microcredit program’s advantage is more because it will create a society that depends on itself, increase self-employment, rise public income, and increase the entrepreneurship spirit in the society.
