To a greater extent than overseas, microfinance programs here have expanded their offerings to deliver education, training, and various other services to nascent entrepreneurs. The goals of these supplemental activities are twofold: to improve the survival rate of the borrowers' startup businesses and to mitigate credit risks for the lender. Several factors have driven the U.S. microfinance industry to diversify beyond simply lending.
Sixth, while in a rapidly changing world of uncertainties, commitment to ideology can prove to be a drag on policy, especially in emerging countries, which are attempting structural transformation, it has been demonstrated by events the world over as well as by the Indian experience, that when the going is good, government is perceived to be a problem but when the going gets tough, effective public policy may be the only solution.