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Microfinance Is Good for Women, but It's Only Part of the Solution

Harvard Business Review

Career paths are not one-size-fits-all, yet in emerging markets, it's often assumed that microfinance — the use of small loans to foster self-reliant small businesses in a community setting — is the only path for women seeking economic opportunity. Microfinance was one issue that we considered.

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Scaling Up Without Losing Your Edge

Harvard Business Review

Following Abed's twist on Schumacher — "small may be beautiful, but big is necessary" — it now touches the lives of an estimated 126 million people with healthcare, education, enterprise development, microfinance and a slew of other programs. Today it runs a sprawl of surplus-generating businesses across diverse sectors.

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Give Impact Investing Time and Space to Develop

Harvard Business Review

Second, in addition to time, the sector needs a framework to measure success, one that makes sense of the sector’s inherent diversity. We allowed microfinance and the venture capital industry the time and space to develop over a few decades. Impact Investing in the Future: Developed clusters across the spectrum.