Abstract

Microenterprise often considered as an antecedent for generating income and employment, which leads to a decline in overall poverty rate and other aspects of sustainable socio-economic development. The objective of this study is to identify the impact of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia’s (AIM) microcredit program on microenterprise assets owned by poor women in rural Peninsular Malaysia. In order to advance our understanding on the topic, contribute to the existing literature and to obtain the above mentioned objective, we employed a cross sectional design with stratified random sampling method. Data was collected from 281 rural clients selected from seven branches in five states in Peninsular Malaysia. Findings showed that the current market value of livestock’s, agricultural/production equipments, agricultural stock/raw materials, enterprise assets and motor vehicles owned by old client respondents were relatively higher than that of new client respondents. Study also revealed that the mean market value of microenterprise assets owned by old clients is significantly higher than that of new clients. Therefore, there is a need to give emphasis on providing adequate training, favorable environment, and flexible and diversified loan programs in order to promote sustainable microenterprise development.

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