Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 5, 2016

While meeting this challenge is a clear priority for policy makers and donors, it is also a major profit opportunity for commercial players who can solve market failures and create real value. Micro-insurance is not at scale anywhere except when heavily subsidized by government, a market we hope technology may change in the future.

Microfinance 10

Microfinance Insurance Banking Bottom-up 10

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 1, 2011

Microfinance has come under fire in the past 18 months, triggered in part by SKS Microfinance's IPO. Critics complain that the institutions supporting microfinance have become too greedy, and many are using this as an argument to deeply regulate or, even more, cut support to microfinance operations. I hope not.

Microfinance 13

Microfinance IPO Bottom-up Finance 13

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 4, 2012

In low-income countries, according to World Bank data in a recent paper by the consultancy Dalberg, 43% of businesses with between 20 and 99 employees say that access to finance is a major constraint. The White House has called this gap between the demand and supply of finance for small and medium enterprises a "market failure.[and]

Entrepreneur 14

Entrepreneur Globalization Microfinance Finance 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 18, 2016

Not many would associate innovation with large, service-oriented nonprofits with decades of history. and globally, and Habitat for Humanity, which works in 70-plus nations to provide home construction, rehabilitation, and increased access to shelter and financing, gathered data from their sites to make the case for profound change.

Microfinance 9

Microfinance Strategic Planning Finance Globalization 9

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 11, 2013

When presented with a surprising idea, smart organizations will bravely listen, because what comes next might just be game-changing innovation. Six years ago, David and Donna Allman approached Opportunity with an idea that fell outside our traditional microfinance model: to build a Community Economic Development (CED) program in Nicaragua.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance Rogers Tourism Engineering 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

Fatigue may be setting in for some Western investors’ interest in African innovation, particularly those that have yet to reap rewards to brag about. Innovation in Distribution. We recently interviewed 100 entrepreneurs to find out which ventures are most likely to thrive. Top of the Pyramid.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance Hotels Entrepreneur Incubator 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Bank marketing materials focus on the dreams, anxieties and goals of consumers. Yet unlike in finance, where distributing risk across institutions is the goal, in drug development the focus is on isolating risk. Financial institutions must find innovative ways to understand their consumers' aspirations and actual behavior.

Banking 10

Banking Pharmaceuticals Microfinance Risk Management 10