Microfinance
More stories
-
Indian Real Estate: Housing for the Poor or Another Debt Crisis?
Like other rapidly developing nations, India has a housing problem. The rural-urban migration has overwhelmed cities like Mumbai, where the formally rural poor come to find new opportunity. Often times this migration is one indication of a country’s development. The major issue however is, where do all these people live? Up until now, more often […] More
-
The Microcredit Industry May Need a Bailout
Believe it or not, this is not some twisted April Fool’s Day joke, but as highlighted in today’s New York Time article “India Microcredit Faces Collapse From Defaults”, is something that is actually taking place in India and could potentially be akin to the sub-prime crisis in the United States. This is clearly terrible news […] More
-
-
Has Banking Gone Nuts? A Look at Sustainability in the Financial Sector
Despite all the bad news we’ve received due to issues in the financial sector over the last two years, it turns out some banks are doing significant work greater than the occasional philanthropic project. Mark Stoiber of Fast Company has outlined some of these cutting edge banks and the interesting work they are doing in […] More
-
Is Fair Trade Really Fair?
Like many other aspects of international development (microfinance, I’m looking at you), there is a wealth of literature on the value and outcomes of fair trade and for the most part, the results have been inconclusive. That’s not to say that there haven’t been some positive impacts, but like microfinance there are some definite drawbacks […] More
-
CDFIs: Community Investing as Part of Your SRI Portfolio
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) has become a nearly $3 trillion dollar industry in the United States. Investors in SRI use screening and shareholder advocacy to influence corporations to improve their environmental practices, social impact and governance issues. What I was surprised to find out was that community investing is the fastest growing area of SRI. […] More
-
Growth Potential: The New Intersection of Meaning, Metrics and Money
Even a year gone since the failure of Lehman, fundamental questions remain regarding the core underlying assumptions of our financial system. Though currently derivatives trading and black boxes appear out of favour, what will replace them in terms of helpful and productive uses of capital still has yet to be determined. This question was what the Conference […] More
-
Mobilizing Change
The founders from three bay area start-ups gathered in HUB’s first bay area home in front of a sold-out crowd to talk about their origins, give the audience – and each other – advice and insights on the “secret sauce” for creating impact. More
-
Cell phones: a platform for social innovation in emerging markets
Smart social entrepreneurs and their like-minded investors would be smart to think about the breadth of opportunities that a cell phone creates for citizens of emerging markets. More
-
iPhone as Fundraiser
Is there anything the iPhone can’t do?
Shazam figures out what song you’re listening to. A pocket flashlight (not to mention a light saber) is only two taps away. And Yelp can get the phone number, directions and even a review of the place you’re trying to find and meet your friends at in a quarter of the time directory assistance, Safari, Google or any mapping software can do it. More
-
ACCION Invests in Tanzania’s Akiba Commercial Bank
Investments, a for-profit company providing equity for microfinance institutions, and ACCION International, a leading nonprofit microfinance organization, today announced that they will invest in, and provide technical assistance to, Tanzania's Akiba Commercial Bank. The move is designed to help Akiba expand its operations and financial services, particularly in microfinance. ACCION Investments will take a 20 […] More
-
Banking 2.0- A New Source of Funds For Small Businesses
The Person-to-Person (P2P) lending marketplace is an exchange where outsiders are allowed to lend at market rates and anyone who passes the underwriting is allowed to borrow. This space has grown in part due to the tightening of the conventional credit markets. Forbes recently posted a fantastic overview in their Entrepreneur’s Guide to Person-To-Person Lending […] More
-
ECOBANK and ACCION Launch Microfinance Operations in Ghana
ACCION Savings & Loan, a microfinance bank formed through a partnership between ACCION(R) International, a pioneer in microfinance program development, and ECOBANK, the leading pan-African bank, has received its license to begin microfinance operations in Ghana. EB-ACCION will open its doors today, April 1st, delivering microcredit, savings and micro-insurance products to the Ghanaian market, thus […] More
Load More
Congratulations. You've reached the end of the internet.