A Review of Gender-Inclusive Green Microfinance Business Models in Tunisia: A Business Model Canvas Perspective

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic review of Tunisian stakeholders’ perceptions of integrating gender into green microfinance business models, analyzed through the lens of the Business Model Canvas (BMC). This systematic review of 32 studies indicates a dual perception of women as both vulnerable victims and active agents in the ecological transition. The BMC-based analysis reveals major weaknesses in the value proposition, distribution channels, and cost structures of gendered green microfinance offerings. Furthermore, we highlight the underexplored role of regulatory frameworks as levers for business model innovation. This study offers an original analytical framework that links gender, environmental sustainability, and microfinance business models, providing actionable insights for policymakers and microfinance institutions seeking to foster inclusive and sustainable financial ecosystems in Tunisia and similar contexts.

1. Introduction

The world faces multiple crises at present, including climate change and social inequality. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) establish direct connections between gender equality (SDG 5), climate action (SDG 13), and sustainable economic growth (SDG 8). In this context, green microfinance—a financial service that simultaneously facilitates environmental sustainability and poverty alleviation—appears to be an important means of addressing these complex issues. While green finance redirects capital towards sustainable projects (Toukabri & Kalai, 2024) and microfinance empowers women and fosters financial inclusion (Roodman, 2012; Ledgerwood, 2013), their strategic integration within a gender-responsive green microfinance business model remains underexplored in transition economies.

This gap is particularly relevant in Tunisia, which is currently undergoing a political and economic transition and is highly vulnerable to climate change, with worsening water scarcity, desertification, and coastal erosion. Socioeconomically, the country is characterized by high unemployment, significant regional disparities, and a dominant informal sector (Ben Belgacem et al., 2025). Here, a unique opportunity exists. The microfinance sector, historically driven by actors such as ENDA Inter-Arabe and the Tunisian Solidarity Bank, is well established among women, who account for 65% of its clientele (National Agency for Energy Management, 2022). This dynamic is accompanied by the first green finance initiatives launched by the Tunisian government and the Central Bank of Tunisia (CBT, 2021).

However, the operational synergy among green finance, microfinance, and gender remains underdeveloped. Stakeholder perceptions, representations, and attitudes (customers, credit agents, microfinance institutions (MFI), and policymakers) are key factors in the success of this integration (Braun & Clarke, 2022). Nevertheless, the literature lacks an organized synthesis of these Tunisian contextual perceptions. A systematic analysis of the underlying business models through which microfinance services are designed and delivered has also yet to be conducted.

This study focuses on the operational business models for delivering gender-responsive green microfinance. Our review differs from previous studies on green finance or microfinance in developing countries in three key ways: (1) it moves beyond analyzing impacts or policies to focus on the operational architecture of service delivery using the Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework; (2) it places gender at the core of the business model analysis, rather than treating it as a peripheral variable; and (3) it provides a contextualized synthesis focused on Tunisia, offering insights into the specific barriers and levers within a Maghreb transition economy, a region underrepresented in such integrated analyses.

The need for this integrated approach is starkly visible in the Tunisian context. As illustrated in

Table 1. The Tunisian context: a nexus of vulnerability, inclusion, and policy.

Dimension	Key Reality	Implication for Green–Gender Microfinance
Climate Vulnerability	High risk of water scarcity, desertification, coastal erosion (Ben Belgacem et al., 2025).	Increases demand for adaptive, green livelihoods, especially among resource-dependent populations.
Microfinance Sector	A clientele that is ~65% female (National Agency for Energy Management, 2022); dominance of actors such as ENDA Inter-Arabe.	Provides a direct channel to women but may reinforce traditional roles rather than entrepreneurial agency.
Green Finance Policy	National Green Finance Strategy (2018); CBT guidelines and credit lines (CBT, 2021).	Creates a top-down enabling framework, yet is perceived as complex and risky by MFIs (Fersi & Boujelbène, 2022).
Socioeconomic Landscape	High unemployment, regional disparities, large informal sector.	Underscores the need for financial products that address both poverty and environmental resilience.

, the country presents a unique confluence of high climate vulnerability, a microfinance sector with a predominantly female clientele, and nascent green finance policies. This creates a potent, yet fraught, laboratory for testing gender-inclusive green microfinance models. However, operational synergies remain elusive, trapped between the sector’s social mission and financial viability constraints. Understanding the stakeholder perceptions that shape the operational business models at this juncture is therefore not merely academic but a practical necessity for designing effective interventions.

This study is guided by the following research questions, which progressively explore the perception, integration, and design challenges at this nexus:

1.

How do Tunisian stakeholders perceive green microfinance products?

2.

How do microfinance institutions and their agents perceive and manage the integration of environmental and gender criteria into their activities?

3.

What is the role of gender in shaping demand, impact, and the design of green microfinance business models?

4.

What barriers and levers (particularly in terms of business model development) are considered necessary to achieve an inclusive and sustainable green microfinance sector in Tunisia?

The remainder of this article, which sets out to answer these questions, is structured as follows. Section 2 presents the literature review and Section 3 presents the theory framework of green finance, green microfinance, the gender–environment nexus and the Business Model Canvas. The methodology used is described in Section 4. Results from the review and the BMC-based analysis are reported in Section 5. Business model innovation and policy implications are addressed in Section 6. Finally, Section 7 concludes with recommendations and limitations of the study.

2. Literature Review

This section systematically reviews the existing research regarding three core relationships to map the current knowledge landscape.

2.1. The Intersection of Green Finance and Gender

Green finance encompasses the financial tools and mechanisms used to finance projects and activities that promote the environmental and ecological transition (Erdoğdu et al., 2025). Its global rise, spurred by the 2015 Paris Agreement, has led to various instruments, including green bonds, specialized investment funds, and dedicated credit lines (CBT, 2021).

In Tunisia, this trend is emerging but fragile. The government has established strategic frameworks, including the National Climate Plan (2022–2030) and the National Green Finance Strategy (2018). The Central Bank of Tunisia has followed suit, with incentive guidelines such as Circular 2016–06 and a financing line for green projects in 2021 (CBT, 2021). However, recent research shows that green finance is still frowned upon by Tunisian financial institutions, including MFIs, which are perceived as costly, technically complex, and risky (Fersi & Boujelbène, 2022; Khanchel et al., 2025b; Bouzaabia & Ben Salem, 2025). The perception of an unfavorable cost–benefit ratio is a significant obstacle to its widespread adoption (Berguiga & Ader, 2024).

The literature on gender and the environment—particularly ecofeminist currents—links gender equality and environmental sustainability theoretically and empirically (Shiva, 2016; Agarwal, 2010). Ecofeminism posits that the exploitation of nature and the domination of women stem from the same patriarchal logic. Empirically, gendered social roles condition access to and management of natural resources (Bel Hadj & Landolsi, 2024). In Tunisia, women are considered more vulnerable to environmental shocks due to their greater economic dependence on natural resources (Maina & Parádi-Dolgos, 2024). However, this vulnerability is accompanied by detailed empirical knowledge of local ecosystems, built through daily household management and subsistence agriculture (Mahjoub & Amara, 2020). This socio-ecological position makes women central—though often invisible—actors in monitoring environmental change and adopting sustainable practices (Essaber et al., 2023).

2.2. Microfinance in Tunisia: Historical Roots and Gender Perspective

The microfinance sector in Tunisia has been growing since the 1990s, with a stated social mission to combat poverty and promote financial inclusion (National Agency for Energy Management, 2022). Actors such as ENDA Inter-Arabe and the Tunisian Solidarity Bank play a significant role in this sector. One distinctive feature of this sector is its feminization, with a predominantly female clientele, reflecting a strategic targeting approach (Kacem, 2018).

This approach is based on the much-debated assumption that women are creditworthy agents of development and that credit is a tool for economic empowerment (Fitouri & Zouaoui, 2024). The observed effect of microfinance on women’s empowerment is highly controversial in the academic and operational literature. Tunisian research has highlighted its impact on improving women’s incomes, self-esteem, and decision-making power by enabling them to create income-generating activities (Day et al., 2025). Conversely, other research has highlighted the risks of over-indebtedness, the increase in women’s mental and physical burden, and the lack of profound change in underlying patriarchal structures (Bel Hadj & Landolsi, 2024).

Furthermore, MFIs face a structural tension between their original social mission and the growing need for financial viability (Khanchel et al., 2025b). This duality, combined with a sometimes rigid regulatory environment, exposes them to external shocks and hinders their capacity for innovation, particularly in the creation and large-scale deployment of green products requiring initial investment and support (Berguiga & Ader, 2024).

2.3. The Emergence of Green Microfinance: Linking Finance and Sustainability

Green microfinance lies at the intersection of the three areas mentioned above. It involves the design and provision of financial products that incorporate positive environmental criteria for low-income populations (Halouani, 2025). Traditional products include loans for solar technology, organic farming, and water-efficient irrigation (Ben Youssef, 2025).

Although the literature on the gendered perceptions of this intersection has only recently emerged in Tunisia, it is growing rapidly (Alqatan et al., 2025). Data from similar countries often reveal a paradox (Nawaz, 2015; Perrin & Hyland, 2023): Women are more receptive to green microfinance products because of their proximity to environmental issues, yet face higher and more diverse barriers to accessing them than men (Berguiga & Ader, 2024). These barriers include sociocultural factors, limited access to land ownership, and sometimes lower literacy (Bel Hadj & Landolsi, 2024). Early Tunisian studies confirm potential interest but emphasize the demand for enhanced technical, social, and financial support (Alqatan et al., 2025; Abbas et al., 2024).

2.4. Identified Research Gap: The Trilateral Integration

While the literature provides insights into these dyadic relationships, a critical gap remains. There is a lack of systematic synthesis examining their trilateral integration—specifically, how stakeholder perceptions shape the operational business models for delivering gender-responsive green microfinance services in Tunisia. This study aims to fill this gap by providing a contextualized analysis of perceptions through a business model lens.

3. Theoretical and Analytical Framework

3.1. Conceptual Foundation: The Gender–Environment–Finance Nexus

The literature has established that gendered social roles and environmental outcomes are inextricably linked, a connection theorized by ecofeminist scholarship (Echavarren, 2023; Shiva, 2016; Agarwal, 2010). This study positions finance—specifically, microfinance—as a potential intervening mechanism within this nexus. By channeling capital, financial services can either reinforce existing vulnerabilities or disrupt them by empowering women’s agency and leveraging their ecological knowledge for sustainable transitions. This conceptual foundation underpins our analysis of how value is defined and delivered within microfinance business models at this intersection.

3.2. Analytical Framework: The Business Model Canvas

To operationally and systematically study how MFIs can design an inclusive green microfinance offering, this study draws on the Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework (Joaqui-Barandica et al., 2025; Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). The BMC is a structured framework for representing an organization’s value creation, delivery, and capture logic through 9 interdependent building blocks.

The BMC has three main advantages for this study:

(1)

It provides a comprehensive overview of how value is generated for stakeholders, integrating financial, social, and environmental aspects.

(2)

It enables the definition of key activities, resources, and partners to provide female customer segments with green products while controlling costs and generating revenue.

(3)

It enables consideration of the most appropriate distribution channels and customer relationships to reach, engage, and retain women in disadvantaged areas (Ghatode & Nimbarte, 2025).

The BMC was selected over alternative frameworks (e.g., the Value Chain or Triple-Layer Canvas) for three reasons pertinent to our research object: (1) Its holistic and simultaneous view of all business model components is essential for analyzing the hybrid logic of social–environmental value creation (Salwin et al., 2022). (2) Its visual and actionable nature is ideal for deconstructing service delivery architecture. (3) Its application to gender-inclusive green microfinance remains largely unexplored, offering a novel analytical lens.

3.3. Integrated Framework and Research Propositions

To visually synthesize the interconnected components of gender-inclusive green microfinance business models in Tunisia, we propose a mechanistic framework (Figure 1). This framework maps how gendered social representations and the Tunisian institutional context (inputs) influence the design of business model components through the lens of the Business Model Canvas (the BMC mechanism). The regulatory and partnership ecosystem acts as a moderating factor, either enabling or constraining model viability. The framework culminates in three core research propositions (outputs) that guide our systematic review.

This systematic review, which is based on this framework, examines the following research propositions concerning the extant literature:

H₁. 

The literature predominantly frames women in Tunisian green microfinance as vulnerable beneficiaries, undervaluing their roles as entrepreneurial actors and co-creators of value in the ecological transition (Sabry, 2025).

H₂. 

There is a lack of literature on the study of green MFI business models from a gender perspective and a notable underrepresentation of perceptions from male clients and deep rural populations.

H₃. 

Stakeholders perceive the regulatory and political context as a critical yet underutilized lever for catalyzing business model innovation and sustainable scale in inclusive green microfinance.

These assumptions guided our systematic review of the literature, helping us to identify trends, gaps, and levers for action in current research and practice.

4. Systematic Review Methodology

4.1. Research Design

This review was conducted following a rigorous systematic literature review methodology, in accordance with the updated recommendations of the PRISMA 2020 statement (Page et al., 2021), ensuring complete methodological transparency, reasoned comprehensiveness, and maximum reproducibility of the research process, from study identification to synthesis. A precise research protocol was defined and documented to limit selection bias and maximize the relevance of the final corpus.

4.2. PICOS (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Study Type) Criteria

The inclusion and exclusion criteria were operationalized according to the PICOS framework:

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Population (P): Actors in the Tunisian financial and social ecosystem directly involved in microfinance, green finance, and/or gender, including microfinance clients (borrowers and savers), credit agents, MFI managers and executives, regulators, and policymakers in these sectors.

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Phenomenon of interest (I): Perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, social representations, lived experiences, and declared knowledge on the nexus between green finance, microfinance, and gender. Debates on the economic models, products, and processes of this nexus are also covered.

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Comparison (C): The Tunisian context; this includes studies conducted in Tunisia based on Tunisian data or whose analyses and conclusions are directly and substantially relevant to Tunisia.

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Outcomes (O): Qualitative (themes, narratives, discourse) and/or quantitative (frequencies, scores, correlations) results reporting on perception data or analyzing business models from this perspective.

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Nature of studies (S): Qualitative, quantitative, or mixed empirical studies, theoretical journal articles, meta-analyses, and gray literature (theses, non-governmental organization reports, working papers, institutional case studies) that have been published. According to best practices, editorials, non-peer-reviewed articles, and simple descriptions of projects without analysis were excluded.

4.3. Data Sources

An in-depth bibliographic search was conducted in October 2024 across leading academic and institutional electronic databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar (top 200 results ranked by relevance), BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine), IDRC Digital Library (International Development Research Centre), CAIRN, and Revues.org.

Following Yoshida et al. (2024), a targeted search for gray literature was conducted on the websites of key Tunisian institutions identified as producers of knowledge on the subject in Tunisia: ENDA Inter-Arabe, Central Bank of Tunisia, French Development Agency (AFD), UNCDF (United Nations Capital Development Fund), and relevant Tunisian ministries (Finance, Environment). The gray literature was consulted solely to understand and construct a regulatory, strategic, and operational context specific to Tunisia, including the sources mentioned above.

To ensure analytical rigor and mitigate potential bias from these non-peer-reviewed sources, the core thematic synthesis and Business Model Canvas mapping were performed exclusively on the subset of empirical, peer-reviewed academic studies (n = 32), as detailed in Table 3.

4.4. Search Strategy

The search strategy combined Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and an exhaustive list of keywords in English, French, and Arabic, pragmatically adapted to the syntax of each database. This multilingual strategy was used with the aim of mitigating linguistic publication bias—an issue raised by Okoli (2015) in bibliographic coverage comparisons.

Table 2. Detailed search strategy by database.

Database	Search Keywords	Filters Applied	Period	Number of Results
Scopus	(“climate finance” OR “sustainable finance” OR “environmental finance”) AND (“microfinance” OR “micro loan”) AND (“gender” OR “women”) AND (“Tunisia”)	Articles in English	2010–2024	187
Web of Science	(“green finance” OR “climate finance” OR “sustainable finance” OR “environmental finance”) AND (“microfinance”) AND (“gender” OR “women”) AND (“Tunisia”)	Research articles	2010–2024	92
Google Scholar	(“finance verte” OR “microfinance” OR “genre” OR “green finance”) AND (“microfinance” OR “gender” OR “Tunisia”)	First 200 results by relevance	No limitation	200
BASE	(“finance verte” OR “Green Finance”) AND (“microfinance”) AND (“Tunisia”)	Free access	2010–2024	45
IDRC Digital Library	“Tunisia” AND “microfinance” AND “green”	Research document	2010–2024	28
CAIRN	“microfinance” AND “environment”	Articles in French	2010–2024	37
Revues.org	“microfinance” AND “Tunisie” AND “Verte”	Humanities and social sciences	2010–2024	23

(Author, 2025).

provides the keywords used.

Source of additional literature:

-

ENDA Inter-Arabe institutional website (Microfinance Institution): 15 documents;

-

Portal of the Central Bank of Tunisia: 8 documents;

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AFD (French Development Agency) website: 12 documents.

Exclusion criteria applied:

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Articles without available abstracts;

-

Studies before 2010;

-

Documents not peer-reviewed (except institutional literature);

-

Studies without a specific focus on Tunisia;

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Works that do not mention gender or environmental dimensions.

The research was limited to documents published between 2010 and 2025 to capture recent developments in policies and perceptions.

4.5. Study Selection

The selection of studies followed the PRISMA 2020 flow diagram (Page et al., 2021) across four stages: identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion. The initial search yielded 647 records from databases and gray literature searches. After removing 124 duplicates through Zotero and manual verification, 523 unique references were submitted to the screening stage.

During screening, we systematically reviewed and compared the titles and abstracts of the 523 references, evaluating them against the predefined PICOS eligibility criteria, which resulted in the selection of 98 articles for full-text reading. After in-depth reading, 66 articles were excluded for the following reasons: lack of attention to economic perceptions or models (n = 28), insufficient or nonexistent gender analysis (n = 19), lack of consideration of the environmental dimension or green finance (n = 14), and others (n = 5) (non-Tunisian context, ineligible document type).

4.6. Data Extraction

Data were extracted from the 32 selected studies using a standardized form designed for this review and pretested on five pilot studies to ensure its reliability and relevance. This form was used to systematically record authors and year of publication, study title, primary objective, methodology (including design, data collection, and analysis), characteristics of the study population and sample size, and principal results concerning stakeholder perceptions and/or business model components.

Figure 2 maps the findings of the systematic review onto the nine building blocks of the BMC. The size or color intensity of each block represents the volume and depth of literature addressing it. This visualization highlights that while “Customer Segments” (particularly women) and “Value Propositions” are well researched, critical gaps exist in the literature concerning “Revenue Streams” and “Cost Structures” for gendered green products, indicating areas where business models are under-conceptualized.

The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using internationally validated tools adapted to the specific study type. For qualitative studies, the CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme) checklist was used, following the recommendations of Long et al. (2020). Quantitative cross-sectional studies were assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) checklist, as recommended by Aromataris et al. (2022). This critical assessment led to the retention of all studies that met quality standards in study design, methodology, data collection, and analysis of results. The remaining 32 studies constituted the final corpus for analysis.

4.7. Data Synthesis

Given the marked methodological heterogeneity of the included studies (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed studies), a narrative thematic synthesis was performed following the rigorous method outlined by Thomas and Harden (2008). This qualitative and interpretative approach was carried out in three iterative stages. The first phase involved open and linear coding of relevant excerpts from each study, remaining as close as possible to the raw data and initial concepts. The second stage grouped these initial codes to identify descriptive themes that represented patterns in the data. Finally, the third stage allowed more abstract and cross-cutting analytical themes to emerge, enabling an original interpretation and conceptualization of the results, particularly by organizing them into blocks of the Business Model Canvas.

This method proved particularly appropriate for capturing the complexity and richness of the perceptions studied, as shown in previous work on qualitative research syntheses (Lachal et al., 2017). Theme validation and reliability were ensured by rigorous control of thematic saturation throughout the corpus, in accordance with the methodological recommendations of Braun and Clarke (2006, 2019, 2022) for thematic analysis.

5. Results

5.1. Study Selection and Corpus Characteristics

Our selection process, as summarized in the PRISMA diagram shown in Figure 3, led to the inclusion of 32 studies in the final synthesis.

Beyond the selection process, a descriptive analysis of the final corpus (n = 32) reveals key characteristics regarding study subjects, geographical focus, temporal distribution, and methodological approaches. This profiling helps contextualize the findings and identify potential biases in the literature.

Geographically, the studies are spread across several regions of Tunisia, but there is a predominance of studies conducted in coastal regions (72%) compared to inland regions (28%), confirming a geographical bias. Temporally, 80% of the studies selected were published between 2018 and 2024, reflecting the recent and growing academic and operational interest in this issue in Tunisia. The actors involved in these studies are diverse: microfinance clients (18 studies), MFI staff and managers (14 studies), and policymakers or regulators (5 studies), with some studies combining several types of actors. Methodologically, the corpus included qualitative (n = 14), quantitative (n = 10), and mixed-methods studies (n = 8). The most common data collection methods were surveys (n = 12) and interviews/focus groups (n = 16).

The selected studies and their details (author(s), year, title, objective, methodology, participants, and main conclusions on perceptions) are presented in

Table 3. List of selected studies.

ID	Author(s) Year	Objective	Methodology	Participants	Key Findings on Perceptions
1	Najjar and Baruah (2023)	Analyzing the impact of microfinance on the adoption of sustainable practices	Mixed	150 farmers (60% women)	Positive perception of green loans but technical concerns
2	Fersi and Boujelbène (2022)	Exploring MFIs’ perceptions of climate products	Qualitative	5 MFI directors	Perceived high-risk but mission-critical opportunity
3	Kacem (2018)	Examining the role of green MF in empowerment	Mixed	80 female clients	Green MF is perceived as empowering but complex
4	Khemili and Belloumi (2018)	Identifying the factors driving the adoption of green practices	Quantitative	25 MFIs	Costs are perceived as the main obstacle
5	Bel Hadj and Landolsi (2024)	Analyzing gender differences in access	Focus groups	8 groups	Women perceive more cultural barriers
6	Abdelkader (2022)	Understanding MFI strategies	Qualitative	3 case studies	Perceived increased credit risk, but diversification possible
7	Fitouri and Zouaoui (2024)	Exploring the potential of green microcredit	Action research	30 project leaders	Green MF considered a lever, but support was needed
8	Fersi and Boujelbène (2021)	Analyzing the integration of environmental concerns	Document analysis + interviews	10 CSR managers	Environment perceived as a secondary issue
9	Bel Hadj and Omri (2024)	Studying customer perceptions	Qualitative phenomenological	25 customers (15 Female/10 Male)	Positive perception of environmental impact
10	Berguiga and Ader (2024)	Analyzing green innovation capabilities	Longitudinal	Secondary data + interviews	Innovations perceived as costly
11	Mahjoub and Amara (2020)	Exploring the influence of cultural factors	Ethnography	6 months of observation	Social norms perceived as barriers
12	Abdelkader (2022)	Analyzing the role of regulation	Policy analysis	5 regulators	Perceived potential but stability concerns
13	Borgi et al. (2023)	Assessing perceptions of climate resilience	Quantitative	120 rural clients	Perceived need for climate-adapted products
14	Maina and Parádi-Dolgos (2024)	Exploring the adoption of green technologies	Mixed	8 MFIs + 45 clients	Initial cost perceived as a major barrier
15	Amayed (2024)	Analyzing RE financing in MF	Case study	3 solar projects	Perceived long-term profitability
16	Trabelsi (2024)	Examining the link between inclusion and transition	Qualitative comparative	12 sector experts	Perceived synergy between social and ecological objectives
17	Dhaouadi et al. (2022)	Assessing environmental risk management	Survey	18 MFIs	Risks perceived as poorly managed
18	Kamaldeen et al. (2024)	Measuring differentiated impact according to gender	Quantitative	200 customers (100 Male/100 Female)	Women perceive more social benefits
19	Ben Salem et al. (2020)	Studying adaptation in MF	Participatory action research	4 rural communities	Perceived vulnerability differs according to gender
20	Essaber et al. (2023)	Exploring impact measurement	Qualitative	15 MF managers	Perceived complexity of impact measurement
21	Abbas et al. (2024)	Assessing training needs	Focus groups + survey	75 credit officers	Perceived need for technical training
22	Chenguel and Mansour (2024)	Analyzing strategic partnerships	Multi-case study	10 partnerships	Perceived added value of partnerships
23	Fersi et al. (2023)	Examining the link between digitalization and ecology	Mixed	150 digital customers	Perceived ease of digital processes
24	Mighri and Sghaier (2019)	Assessing the sustainability of projects	Longitudinal	30 projects over 3 years	Perceived viability dependent on support
25	Ammeri et al. (2024)	Identify customer expectations	Qualitative	40 customer interviews	High expectations for technical support
26	Ben Delhouma and Sdiri (2024)	Analyzing the role of cooperatives	Case study	5 cooperatives	Female leadership perceived as a facilitator
27	Abdel Azziz et al. (2024)	Studying the financing of organic farming	Mixed	80 organic farmers	Perceived risks but attractive premium prices
28	Barguellil and Bettayeb (2020)	Measuring social impact	Quantitative	300 beneficiaries	Perceived improvement in living conditions
29	Toukabri and Kalai (2024)	Analyzing communication strategies	Content analysis	15 Microfinance campaigns	Environmental message poorly perceived
30	Emara and Mohieldin (2020)	Developing performance indicators	Delphi	20 experts	Perceived difficulty of quantitative measurement
31	Zineelabidine et al. (2024)	Exploring demand for climate insurance	Qualitative	8 focus groups	Highly perceived climate risk
32	Mansour (2023)	Analyzing the governance of green MFIs	Benchmarking	12 leading MFIs	Perceived commitment of management is crucial

.

5.2. Analysis of Perceptions Using the Business Model Canvas

Following a thematic analysis of the 32 studies, supplemented by the Business Model Canvas framework, the results were organized into the nine blocks of the BMC, highlighting the strengths, weaknesses, and tensions in the perceived or existing business models of gender-based green microfinance in Tunisia.

This analysis reveals different perceptions among stakeholders regarding the value of the initiatives, as shown in Figure 4.

Value Offered:

For female customers, the perceived value is twofold. On the one hand, research has highlighted a preference for non-monetary benefits, such as improved family health (better quality water or air), reduced domestic workload (solar energy), and food security (organic farming) (Day et al., 2025; Khanchel et al., 2025a); in this context, women are perceived as “guardians of nature,” prioritizing long-term effects for their children. On the other hand, “green conditionality” is perceived as an additional constraint, that is, a source of anxiety associated with the technical nature and risk of project failure (Kacem, 2018). Direct economic value (improved profitability) is cited less often and considered uncertain.

For MFIs, the value proposition of offering green products is also mixed. It is considered a tool to consolidate the institution’s social mission and image, potentially attracting impact investors (Fersi & Boujelbène, 2021). However, this value is offset by higher risk and costs, reducing the financial value of the model.

Customer Segments: The analysis validates hypothesis H₂. The literature primarily focuses on a single, partial segment—female borrowers—with male customers’ opinions underrepresented (only three studies explicitly included them), with an urban and peri-urban focus that overlooks rural realities (Bel Hadj & Landolsi, 2024). The segments are not sufficiently differentiated according to detailed criteria (level of poverty, type of activity, and level of education), which prevents MFIs from developing tailored offerings.

Channels: Traditional channels (physical branches and credit agents) remain predominant, but are only partially suited for distributing green products, which require demonstration and technical advice (Abbas et al., 2024). The potential of digital channels to reach women—especially younger women—is mentioned but remains underexploited and perceived as unreachable for a large part of the rural female clientele (Fersi et al., 2023).

Customer Relations: Customer relations need to shift from a financial logic to a logic of “advice and support.” Female customers express a significant need for ongoing technical assistance, practical training, and local support for green projects (Khanchel et al., 2025a). This transformation requires upskilling credit officers and directly impacts the cost structure (Sayed et al., 2015).

Key Activities: Beyond traditional credit management activities, the development of gender-responsive green microfinance requires activities that are considered new and costly: technical evaluation of green projects, development of partnerships with experts (technicians, agronomists), development of specific training modules for clients and agents, and implementation of environmental and social monitoring and evaluation systems (Berguiga & Ader, 2024; Essaber et al., 2023).

Key Resources: The lack of human resources qualified in terms of green technologies and gender is a significant obstacle faced by MFIs (Fersi & Boujelbène, 2022). Financial limitations further hinder investment in product innovation and training. Access to a network of technical partners (key partners) is mentioned as an essential external resource to overcome these internal weaknesses.

Key partners: The role of international donors (AFD, UNCDF), non-governmental organizations, and public institutions (National Agency for Energy Management, 2022; ministries) is considered essential in providing technical support, concessional credit lines, and guarantees (Abdelkader, 2022). The fragility of these alliances is perceived as posing a risk to the survival of business models.

Cost Structure: Green products are generally perceived to have a higher cost structure, including product development and testing costs, agent and customer training costs, environmental monitoring costs, and perceived risk premium (Khanchel et al., 2025b; Bouzaabia & Ben Salem, 2025). This perception hinders investment by MFIs.

Revenue Streams: Revenue is perceived to rely primarily on loan interest, with uncertainty about clients’ ability to generate sufficient additional and stable income from green activities to repay potentially larger loans. Alternative or complementary sources of income (consulting fees, incentives linked to environmental outcomes) are rarely mentioned in the literature reviewed.

5.3. Verification of Themes and Confirmation of Hypotheses

The rigor of the thematic analysis was ensured through independent coding and consensus, achieving thematic saturation after analyzing 32 studies. The themes are robust, recurrent in the corpus, and consistent with the theoretical framework.

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The analysis supports H₁. The representation of women in the research focuses on their vulnerability and domestic role (“guardians”), with their entrepreneurial potential in the green economy underemphasized.

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The visual mapping of the BMC (Figure 2) empirically confirms hypothesis H₂. It reveals that while customer segments (particularly women) and value propositions are relatively well covered, key operational blocks remain virtually empty in the literature, particularly revenue streams and cost structure for gendered green products. This lack of research on sustainable business models (on the revenue side) and their financial viability (on the cost side) constitutes the central operational gap identified, confirming that the literature neglects to analyze business models in their entirety and from a gender perspective.

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H₃ is validated. The regulatory framework is considered an essential lever, but it remains too weak, unclear, or insufficiently incentivizing to truly trigger innovation in business models and absorb the perceived costs and risks. Stakeholders are calling for more ambitious and better-targeted policies.

5.4. Prospective Review: Limitations and Future Directions

This section synthesizes the key limitations of the reviewed literature and identifies priority areas for new research on gender-inclusive green microfinance in Tunisia.

A. Limitations of the Literature

The corpus analysis identified three main constraints:

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Geographical and demographic bias: Over-representation of coastal/urban population and female clients, ignoring rural regions, and intra-household dynamics.

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Methodological Constraints: Prevalence of survey and perceptual studies, without many longitudinal, impact-focused, or participatory co-design methods.

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Thematic Gaps: There is a lack of studies of sustainable revenue models beyond interest, digital delivery channels, and the application of fintech/blockchain to transparency and inclusion.

B. Future Research Directions

To fill these gaps, future research should focus on:

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Longitudinal and Impact Research: Establish integrated measurement frameworks and long-term socioeconomic and environmental metrics.

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Expanded Scope: Conduct comparative regional research and explicitly include male clients and spouses to understand household dynamics.

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Innovation in Design: Explore blended finance, green micro-insurance, and accessible digital channels (mobile platforms, agent banking).

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Policy and Ecosystem Analysis: Evaluate regulatory tools (e.g., sandboxes, guarantee funds) and facilitate south–south knowledge transfer (e.g., from Morocco, Bangladesh).

Addressing these priorities will make the foundation firmer than ever to guide successful business models and policies for truly inclusive green finance.

6. Discussion

This systematic review, utilizing the Business Model Canvas, presents an original synthesis of the literature on perceptions of green finance, microfinance, and gender in Tunisia. It indicates that the difficulties in articulating these three spheres are not only technical or financial but also embedded in MFI business model designs and prevailing social representations. The dual image of women (as victims and actors) and the high-risk cost for MFIs require innovation in business models.

6.1. A Conceptual Innovation: The BMC–Gender–Green Finance Nexus

Our originality lies in the systemic use of the Business Model Canvas framework to interpret perceptions and economic models of gendered green microfinance. While the literature has addressed gender in MFIs (Kacem, 2018) and green finance (Fersi & Boujelbène, 2022) separately, our framework captures their operational interdependencies. For example, the analysis indicates that the “Key Activities” block needs to be transformed (addition of technical advice, green partnerships) to support a gendered “Value Proposition” (health and well-being benefits); however, this transformation is blocked by the high “Cost Structure.” This holistic approach represents an innovation in identifying bottlenecks and levers for action in complex financial ecosystems and can be applied to other contexts in the Global South.

6.2. International Comparison: Structural Similarities and Tunisian Specificities

Our results echo work in similar contexts while highlighting specific features of Tunisia.

• Similarities with Bangladesh and Morocco: The paradox of women being both vulnerable and agents of ecological transition, which was validated in this study (H₁), has also been observed by Nawaz (2015) and Ma et al. (2025) in Bangladesh and in green microfinance programs in Morocco (Nach, 2025). Similarly, the perceived higher risk and costs for MFIs are a recurring obstacle, as highlighted by Perrin and Hyland (2023) in their international review.
• Specific features in Tunisia: Our BMC analysis reveals that the scarcity of technical partners (“Key Partners”) is a major obstacle in Tunisia, unlike in more developed ecosystems such as Morocco (Zouitini et al., 2024), where partnerships between MFIs, green tech, and cooperatives are more established. Furthermore, the under-representation of male and deep rural segments (H₂) in the Tunisian literature contrasts with Indian and Mexican studies, which emphasize intra-household dynamics and male perceptions of green credit.

6.3. Towards a Renewed Gendered and Green Value Proposition

The value offered to female customers must go beyond access to credit and become part of a “green capabilities” approach, as operationalized in our framework. This requires hybrid products combining financing, simplified technical training (demonstrations, female mentors), and simplified access to appropriate and affordable technologies. The value for MFIs must be reconsidered beyond short-term financial profitability to include their social and environmental impact as components of their overall performance and attractiveness to impact investors (Fersi & Boujelbène, 2021).

6.4. The Catalytic Role of a Favorable Ecosystem and Partnerships

The fragility of existing business models cannot be resolved without support from the ecosystem, consistent with Abdelkader (2022). Our BMC analysis enabled us to determine a spatialized strategy: Government and donors can intervene by co-creating partial guarantee funds for green loans (impact on the “Key Resources” block), subsidizing initial product development cost (“Cost Structure”), and encouraging public–private partnerships for access to technologies (“Key Partners”). Drawing inspiration from regional experiences, such as the accompanied green microfinance programs in Morocco (Nach, 2025), could offer avenues for intervention to consolidate these failing blocks.

6.5. Implications for Public Policy and MFI Practice

Policymakers should operationalize the National Green Finance Strategy by incorporating an inclusive microfinance component, including financial incentive instruments and a gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation framework. For MFIs, this means investing in product differentiation (segmentation), inclusive digitalization of channels, and hybrid training (finance–environment–gender) for their agents. Building strong partnerships with women’s cooperatives, green tech players, and research organizations can help to share costs and risks while anchoring innovation locally, particularly in rural areas.

Figure 5 provides a strategic implementation plan based on BMC analysis, with actions for policymakers, MFIs, and international partners across short-, mid-, and long-term time horizons. The roadmap visually aligns the recommended interventions (pilot products, regulatory sandboxes, impact investment) with the corresponding BMC blocks they aim to strengthen, serving as the priority framework for stakeholders working to accelerate gender-inclusive green microfinance in Tunisia.

6.6. Bridging the Gap Between Current and Ideal Business Models

Our systematic review, analyzed through the Business Model Canvas framework, reveals a significant gap between the current state of gender-inclusive green microfinance in Tunisia and an innovative, sustainable model. To synthesize the operational implications of our findings,

Table 4. Contrasting current and ideal business models for gender-inclusive green microfinance in Tunisia.

BMC Block	Current State	Innovative Model
Value Proposition	Centered on credit access; “green conditionality” perceived as an additional constraint; women are framed primarily as vulnerable beneficiaries.	A “Green Capabilities” Approach: Hybrid products combining financing, simplified technical training, and technology access, valuing women’s role as ecological actors and entrepreneurs.
Revenue Streams	Near-exclusive reliance on loan interest, perceived as risky for green activities with uncertain returns.	Diversified and Blended Model: Interest income + result-based premiums for environmental outcomes + fees for advisory services + blended finance (grants, impact investment).
Channels	Traditional physical channels (branches, agents) are ill suited for technical advice; digital channels are under-exploited and perceived as inaccessible for many rural women.	Hybrid Advisory Channels: Credit agents trained as green advisors + adapted digital platforms (mobile, low-tech) + local demonstration sites via partnerships (NGOs, cooperatives).
Customer Relationships	Transactional, focused on financial compliance and repayment.	Advisory and Support-Based: Long-term relationships providing continuous technical assistance, peer mentoring, and adaptive support for green project implementation.
Cost Structure	Perceived as prohibitively high (product development, training, monitoring, risk premium), deterring MFI investment.	Shared and Supported Costs: Costs shared through strategic partnerships (e.g., with tech providers, NGOs); partially absorbed by public/donor-backed guarantee funds and technical assistance grants.
Key Activities	Traditional credit management, with limited capacity for green project appraisal or gender-sensitive support.	Integrated Green–Gender Activities: Technical project evaluation, development of gender-sensitive training modules, environmental and social impact monitoring, partnership management.
Key Resources	Lack of internal human resources with green tech and gender expertise; limited financial slack for innovation.	Enhanced Human and Financial Capital: Hybrid-trained staff (finance, environment, gender); access to concessional funding lines and impact capital; robust network of technical partners.
Key Partners	Fragile, ad hoc alliances with donors and NGOs; limited engagement with green tech players or women’s collectives.	Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships: Formalized alliances with women’s cooperatives, green technology suppliers, research institutes, and public agencies for shared value creation.
Regulatory and Ecosystem Role	Perceived as a potential but underused lever; frameworks are insufficiently incentivizing or tailored.	Catalytic Enabling Environment: Regulatory sandboxes for innovation, gender-sensitive green finance targets, integrated reporting standards, and public co-investment in risk-sharing facilities.

contrasts the dominant characteristics of the current model—as evidenced in the literature—with the key features of an ideal, transformative model that integrates gender, environmental sustainability, and financial viability.

This contrast highlights that moving towards an inclusive and sustainable green microfinance sector in Tunisia requires not incremental adjustments, but a systemic reconfiguration of the underlying business logic. The following conclusion consolidates the strategic priorities derived from this analysis.

7. Conclusions

Four research questions guided this systematic review. Our findings, synthesized through the analytical lens of the Business Model Canvas (BMC), provide the following consolidated answers:

RQ1: How do Tunisian stakeholders perceive green microfinance products?

Perceptions are fundamentally ambivalent. Female clients value non-monetary benefits—improved family health, food security, and reduced domestic workload—yet perceive “green conditionality” as an additional technical constraint and source of anxiety. Conversely, microfinance institutions (MFIs) view green products as strategic tools for reinforcing their social mission and attracting impact investors, but simultaneously perceive them as introducing higher financial risk and prohibitive costs.

RQ2: How do MFIs perceive and manage the integration of environmental and gender criteria?

Integration is perceived as a significant operational challenge rather than a core strategic opportunity. It demands new key activities—such as the technical appraisal of green projects and gender-sensitive monitoring—and new resources, notably staff expertise in green technologies and gender inclusion. The literature indicates that these requirements are currently unmet and are seen as costly, thereby acting as a structural barrier to deep, strategic integration.

RQ3: What is the role of gender in shaping demand, impact, and business model design?

Gender is a pivotal, yet simplistically framed, factor. Prevailing narratives in the literature dichotomize women’s roles, portraying them predominantly as “vulnerable victims” of climate change or “guardians of nature.” This overlooks their potential as entrepreneurs and innovators in the green economy, leading to value propositions and product designs that fail to fully harness their agency and ecological knowledge.

RQ4: What are the barriers and levers for an inclusive and sustainable green microfinance sector?

The principal barrier is a misaligned business model architecture. The prevailing model’s high cost structure and dependence on traditional interest-based revenue streams are ill suited for the risk profile and support needs of gendered green activities. The critical lever lies not within MFIs alone but in the surrounding ecosystem. Stakeholders identify a supportive, clear, and incentivizing regulatory framework—coupled with robust, multi-stakeholder partnerships—as the essential catalyst for de-risking innovation and enabling sustainable business model transformation.

Building on these answers, this research makes three core contributions that constitute the principal findings of this study:

First, we map the perceptual paradox surrounding women’s roles in the ecological transition. The literature consistently portrays Tunisian women through a dual lens: vulnerable victims of climate change, yet simultaneously pragmatic agents with unique ecological knowledge and motivation. This study clarifies that this duality is not just a social observation but a central tension that influences the design of financial value propositions, which often fail to harness women’s entrepreneurial potential in the green economy fully.

Second, we provide a systemic diagnosis of operational blockages using the BMC. The analysis reveals critical misalignments within the prevailing microfinance business model. A value proposition aimed at building “green capabilities” for women is systematically undermined by prohibitive cost structures, underdeveloped key activities (e.g., technical advisory services), and fragile key partnerships. This holistic, block-by-block diagnosis, as visualized in our synthesis (Figure 2), offers a novel and actionable framework for identifying leverage points that is absent from dyadic analyses of gender–microfinance or green–finance alone.

Third, we validate the catalytic yet underutilized role of the regulatory and ecosystem framework. While stakeholders perceive regulation as a potential key lever for innovation, current policies are seen as insufficiently incentivizing or targeted to absorb the perceived risks and costs associated with gendered green products. This confirms that business model innovation cannot be driven by microfinance institutions (MFIs) in isolation but requires concerted, supportive action from policymakers and international partners.

Our review also reveals structural limitations in the extant literature, including a coastal bias, a predominance of cross-sectional designs, and a scarcity of studies on innovative revenue streams and digital channels. These limitations directly inform our proposed future research agenda, which calls for longitudinal impact studies, inclusive demographic sampling, and participatory design of green financial products.

7.1. Strategic Priorities for Stakeholders

Based on our BMC-based analysis, we consolidate the following strategic priorities for stakeholders below:

For Policymakers and Regulators: Operationalize the National Green Finance Strategy with an explicit, gender-sensitive microfinance component. This should include (1) creating regulatory sandboxes to pilot innovative green micro-products; (2) establishing partial guarantee funds to de-risk MFI lending for green activities led by women; and (3) developing a hybrid monitoring framework that tracks financial, social, and environmental performance to attract impact capital.

For Microfinance Institutions: Transition from a standardized credit logic to a segmented, advisory-based model. This requires (1) investing in product differentiation to serve the distinct needs of rural/urban, male/female segments; (2) developing hybrid training programs for loan officers (finance, gender, and basic green tech); and (3) actively forging strategic partnerships with women’s cooperatives, green technology providers, and NGOs to share expertise, costs, and risks.

For International Partners and Donors: Move from isolated project funding to ecosystem building. Support should focus on (1) co-financing the upfront costs of product development and technical assistance units within MFIs; (2) facilitating knowledge exchange networks with similar contexts (e.g., Morocco, Bangladesh) to transfer proven models; and (3) funding action research that employs co-design methodologies with end-users to develop more context-appropriate solutions.

7.2. Limitations and Future Research Prospects

While this review provides a foundational synthesis, its limitations point to fertile ground for future empirical and comparative research:

Geographical and Demographic Focus: The predominance of studies in coastal regions and on female clients limits understanding of inland/rural dynamics and intra-household decision-making. Future research should conduct comparative case studies in inland regions and explicitly include male clients and spouses to design truly inclusive financial products.

Methodological Scope: Reliance on perceptual data and cross-sectional studies restricts insights into long-term impact and causality. To address this, scholars should develop longitudinal studies that track the socioeconomic and environmental outcomes of green microfinance clients over time, and create integrated measurement tools that combine financial metrics with validated scales for women’s empowerment and environmental stewardship.

Contextual Specificity: Our framework was developed and applied in Tunisia. To test its robustness and adaptability, we propose methodological transposition studies in other Maghreb (e.g., Algeria, Morocco) and Mediterranean transition economies. This comparative work would distinguish universal business model challenges from context-specific barriers.

Innovation in Co-Design: To bridge the gap between perceived value and offered value, future work should pilot and evaluate participatory co-design methodologies, engaging women borrowers as active innovators in developing the next generation of green microfinance products and delivery channels.

Future research should focus on longitudinal field studies to measure the actual impact of green loans on women’s socioeconomic status in rural Tunisia. Specifically, there is a need for quantitative assessments that track the long-term environmental outcomes of micro-loans distributed to female borrowers. Additionally, exploring the role of digital “Augmented Finance” (AI and IoT) in reducing operational costs for rural outreach remains a promising area for future investigation.

In closing, this study underscores that integrating gender into green microfinance is not merely an additive process but requires a strategic reconfiguration of the underlying business model. The proposed BMC-based analytical framework offers a replicable tool for researchers and practitioners alike to diagnose inefficiencies and design more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable financial ecosystems, not only in Tunisia but in similar contexts worldwide.