Assessing the Effects of Information Technology on Micro-Financial Institutions in the Shama District of Ghana

Abstract

Microfinance is a source of financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses lacking access to banking and related services. For some, microfinance is a movement whose object is "a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfer. Management of such entities has from time immemorial been very difficult. With the advent of information technology it was anticipated that management of micro-financial institutions would take a different shape. As if by design most of these institutions have adopted the use of information technology since the propagation of this new technology in Ghana. The influx of the so many micro-financial organisation in Ghana with their adoption of the information technology has become an interesting area to explore. In the Shama district the case is more interesting. It is against this backdrop that this study attempts to investigate the various effects the information technology has on these micro-financial institutions especially in the Shama district. The study adopted exploratory method of research and a sample of twenty respondents were chosen for the study. The study showed that, there is a positive relationship between information technology and business growth in terms of profitability, creation of new jobs and increase number of employees. Keywords: Information Technology, ‘Susu’, Micro finance institutions (MFIs).