Although the microfinance sector is experiencing rapid growth, the available financial resources are insufficient to serve the millions of low-income people who do not have access to formal financial services. It is clear that to meet this huge demand, MFIs cannot rely only on donors’ money, it is also necessary to attract private and commercial sector financing.

Donor support should mainly facilitate integration into the financial system and contribute to the development of quasi-commercial financial instruments such as loans, guarantees and share capital stakes devoted to securing the next generation of MFIs.

For the development of economic activities, grants scarcer than commercial funds promote a culture of dependency, while financing through debt and investment in share capital stakes tend to respect the autonomy of MFIs. Among the ten thousand relatively viable MFIs, fewer than a thousand (which are mainly listed on the Mixmarket: www.mixmarket.org) meet the requirements of maturity and professionalisation set by national and international financiers.The necessary grants for MFI creation should rapidly target self-sufficiency and an ability to attract financial market funds.