article thumbnail

Innovating The Brick-and-Mortar Injustice Infrastructure

Mills Scofield

This week''s post is by Andy Posner , Co-Founder & Executive Director of Capital Good Fund ( CGF ), a non-profit microfinance organization targeting the root causes of poverty through innovative micro-loans and personal financial coaching. Maybe you can help! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

article thumbnail

Do Teams Work Best When The Stakes Are High?

The Horizons Tracker

This process, which they refer to as gradualism, is commonly used in team building and training initiatives, and are also common in the field of microfinance.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Learning from Microfinance's Woes

Harvard Business Review

A few weeks ago, I attended a lecture about microfinance, and got sucker-punched. Expecting to hear a litany of pros and cons about the business, and an exploration of good and bad models, I was instead greeted with a knockout punch: Microfinance doesn't work, at least not in the way we think it does. That's nice.

article thumbnail

Under Fire, Microfinance Faces Falling Out of Favor

Harvard Business Review

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.

article thumbnail

Making Microfinance More Effective

Harvard Business Review

We recently conducted a literature review of rigorous academic studies of financial service innovations among the very poor to find out what services and products would unlock the most value for those at the bottom of the pyramid. And third, digital platforms can facilitate innovation in product and service design.

article thumbnail

Women as Microfinance Leaders, Not Just Clients

Harvard Business Review

We're a network of microfinance organizations; we exist to share practices and develop the leadership skills required by a sector that has grown up fast. And as you might be aware, microfinance is a phenomenon that, while it did not set out to be "for women," has mainly turned out to be.

article thumbnail

The Innovation Mindset in Action: Shantha Ragunathan

Harvard Business Review

Although she was poor in resources, she possessed the innovation mindset shared by many game changers: they see and act on opportunities , use "and" thinking to resolve tough dilemmas and break through compromises, and employ their resourcefulness to power through obstacles. Hopeless as her situation was, Shantha engaged in "and" thinking.