Prospects and challenges of Islamic microfinance

From the beginning the Islamic non-governmental organisations, cooperatives and microfinance institutions have been encountering numerous challenges. The principal challenge is Funding Islamic microfinance programme. A huge fund is required for covering the poor living below the poverty line. Resulting from the lack of fund, many Islamic NGOs, MFIs and cooperatives have not succeeded in reaching the poorest of the poor. Donors and developing agencies usually demonstrate almost no interest in funding Islamic NGOs-MFIs because of their misconception about Islamic views towards empowerment of women and modernisation. Thus, Islamic microfinance is yet to expand its country-wide outreach effectively in order to be provided with a fund from national and international Islamic donors and development agencies.