Conventional Route to Interest-Free Microfinance

The book proposes facilitating the global expansion of microfinance through a universal non-religious microfinance business model. It concludes that traditional banking and Islamic banking with divergent philosophies do not inevitably reflect in the practices between interest-free banking and conventional banking, and the investment formulas utilized in traditional business practices and interest-free finance systems are analogous. Moreover, by using adapted conventional business formulas in Islamic finance principles and the current implementation of these methods in Africa, the book recommends that traditional microfinance providers have already incorporated profit-sharing, leasing, sales-based, and forward lending formulas alongside interest, for pragmatic reasons, irrespective of religious considerations and without changes in the regulatory frameworks. Additionally, the book envisions integrating the suggested global interest-free microfinance model to support microfinance as a sustainable strategy through the IMF/World Bank social mitigation programs and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor at the World Bank.