This book aims to bring new insights into the effectiveness of microfinance as a tool for boosting entrepreneurial activities that in turn enhance the capabilities of individuals living in extreme poverty across several dimensions of human development, especially in the current challenging times for both individuals and the microfinance industry. Theoretical contributions explore the interplay between classical microfinance models and entrepreneurial ecosystems as well as innovative microfinance models, such as the pass-through microlending model in the crowdfunding context. Empirical contributions shed light to the interplay between microfinance and poverty, economic development, well-being and women's empowerment. The book also considers responses to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the microfinance market, specifically focusing on eliminating extreme poverty (SDG1), promoting shared economic growth (SDG8), and reducing the inequalities among countries (SDG10) to ensure all people achieve prosperity.

Autorentext

Ana Paula Matias Gama obtained a degree in Management (1994) and a Master's (2001) in Management from the University of Beira Interior. The Ph.D. in finance (2006) and the Habilitation degree in Finance in 2020 were obtained from Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL). She is an associate professor with accreditation at the Management and Economics Department (DGE) of the University of Beira Interior (UBI), where she has been teaching courses on corporate finance, entrepreneurial finance, and accounting. She is a researcher at the Research Center of Business Sciences (NECE).

Mário Augusto obtained a degree in Economics in 1991, a M.S. in European Economics in 1996, a Ph.D. in Management (Finance) in 2004, and a Habitation degree in Finance in 2013, all from the University of Coimbra. He is currently a full professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra (FEUC), where he has been teaching courses on financial management, financial calculus, strategic financial decisions, data analyses, and related areas and has supervised several M.S. and Ph.D. students. He is a researcher at the Centre for Business and Economics Research at the University of Coimbra (CeBER). He is a former researcher at the ISR-Institute of Systems and Robotics-University of Coimbra (1993-2017). Mário is the coordinator of the Management Group at the FEUC and a member of the Assembly of the FEUC.

Ricardo Emanuel Correia is a Professor of Finance at ISCAL. Driven by data and behavioral finance, Ricardo Emanuel Correia is a financial economist and researcher. Previously, he worked on "The Role of Microcredit in Promoting Financial and Social Inclusion" (PTDC/EGE-OGE/31246/2017), and other research projects in behavioral economics and corporate finance. He has experience as a consultant in KPMG Corporate Finance. His current areas of interest in the study are financial markets, behavioral finance, crowdfunding, and microfinance. Ricardo has won the EMN-European Microfinance Research Award 2020.

Fábio Duarte obtained a degree in Management in 2009, an M.S. in Economics in 2011, and a Ph.D. in Economics (Finance) in 2016, all from the University of Beira Interior (UBI). He is currently an assistant professor at the School of Economics and Management (FEP), University of Porto (U.PORTO), where he has been teaching courses in finance, including business valuation, financial calculus, financial markets, and related areas. He is a researcher at the Center for Economics and Finance at U.PORTO.