Rita Biswas Named Fulbright U.S. Scholar
By Siobhan Treacy
ALBANY, N.Y (September 30, 2026) - Rita Biswas, Ackner-Newman Chair in Business and Innovation and Professor of Finance at the University at Albany Massry School of Business, has been selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for 2026-27. This achievement will allow her to advance research aimed at helping microentrepreneurs gain access to financing.
Through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, Biswas will work in Colombia exploring an alternative method of evaluating microentrepreneurs who may be strong business leaders, but lack the financial records, credit history or collateral that financial institutions traditionally require to secure a loan.
Finding a New Way to Assess Potential
Microbusinesses are generally businesses with five or fewer employees. Microbusiness owners may lack the time, resources or financial expertise needed to maintain the formal accounting records required by conventional lenders.
“When microbusiness owners want even tiny loans, institutions often ask for collateral, records, credit history, etc.,” Biswas said. “Gathering that information can be difficult for small business owners.”
Biswas' research asks whether lenders could substitute some of those traditional measures with another indicator: the entrepreneurial characteristics of the person behind the business.
Her approach uses Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation (IEO). IEO studies traits associated with entrepreneurship, including proactiveness, innovativeness and risk-taking. Biswas and her collaborators use IEO and text analytics to examine interviews with microentrepreneurs and identify language associated with entrepreneurial characteristics and indicators of confidence, hope, optimism and resilience.
Biswas tested this approach during an earlier pilot study across several urban and rural areas of Colombia in 2022-2023. Preliminary results from this study found an association between high entrepreneurial orientation scores, resilience and successful microenterprises.
The Fulbright Award will allow Biswas to build on her initial findings by studying approximately 250 microentrepreneurs and test if their IEO measures can provide enough evidence of success for financial institutions to accept it as an alternative credit metric for giving a loan.
“What we hope is that entrepreneurs will be able to take their IEO score, give it to a financial institution and say, ‘Hey, we don’t have the accounting books, we don’t have collateral, but we have a high EO score. Will you lend to us?’” Biswas said.
Turning Research Into Practice
Biswas’ study will involve working with microfinance institutions and exploring whether lenders can use IEO scores as an alternative measure when evaluating potential borrowers.
“The lender has to be convinced also that this metric is acceptable,” Biswas said. “If they don’t accept it, then it won’t work.”
The research is designed to move beyond theory and toward practical application. During the study, entrepreneurs will receive individualized feedback based on their IEO and sentiment measures. Lending teams will learn how the scores could substitute for traditional underwriting information. The goal is to produce empirical evidence that could give financially underserved entrepreneurs another way to demonstrate their potential.
A Fulbright Ambition Fulfilled
For Biswas, being named a Fulbright Scholar fulfills a longtime goal.
“I am thrilled,” Biswas said of learning she had been selected. “It was a personal ambition of mine.”
For a scholar who has spent her career examining finance in emerging economies, the award offers the chance to bring her research closer to the individuals it can serve. Biswas has a straightforward goal for the project: helping even a small number of entrepreneurs gain the financing they need to build sustainable businesses.
“I feel that at this point in my life and career, I will find it rewarding if even five microentrepreneurs are able to get microloans and be successful,” Biswas said. “I've been wanting to work on a project which will have social impact. This study and becoming a Fulbright scholar is a step towards that goal.”