But in Africa, microfinance has caught on more slowly than in other regions of the developing world. While it has made some inroads, primarily in urban areas, most Africans, who live off the land and in small towns and villages, have yet to be reached. Until very recently, the cost of bringing financial services – even microfinance services – to remote parts of Africa has been prohibitive, and the logistics of doing so daunting. In Africa’s vast rural areas, where the world’s poorest people eke out a subsistence living in sparsely populated communities, lack of infrastructure and untenably high costs.
