Leaders in the microfinance industry are generally active on the supply side. They owe their position to control of grants, which are the most precious form of capital in the industry.

Where the desire for profit was largely absent, grants as a form of capital worked well, because leadership linked grant provision to affordability of service provision. Today, however, the application of the grant has become more instrumental in facilitating the entry of private sector capital. This has resulted in a shift of institutional roles and responsibilities throughout the industry. Grants are still raised on the basis of helping the poor but applied in a manner so as to gain the greatest possible profit. Some industry leaders raise donations to help the poor but make large profits as a benefit. This is counter-productive to the spirit of microfinance and grossly neglects the best interests of the microfinance customers.

This shift in focus has created a remarkable role reversal. Where the public at large would expect non-profit funding and support agencies, which are still at the core of industry leadership, to keep a keen eye on fair practice and protection of customer rights, it sees some of these agencies heavily involved in dubious practices. And where the same public would expect private sector entities to play the role of hard-nosed returns-driven investors, it now sees that many have embraced socially responsible investment strategies. In such cases, private sector investors may offer poor clients a fairer deal than non-profit investors.

Industry leaders display an unshakable belief in the functioning of the market. For the long term such a belief might well be justified. However, since current microfinance markets are rarely mature or balanced nor adequately regulated from a customer perspective, there are good reasons to monitor the rough edges of the industry keenly and provide leadership in cases where customers are unfairly treated. Since known industry leaders have failed to provide leadership in the area of customer protection, other actors must come forward to work diligently on the issue of customer rights.