Harvard Business Review

JUNE 8, 2018

Impact investors over the past decade largely focused on proving that impact investments could achieve a “market rate” or above return profile. Making something wildly profitable will of course attract the attention of financial markets, and thus increase the chances it will scale effectively. Lessons from Microfinance.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance IPO Real Estate Industry 8

CO2

JUNE 4, 2012

Over time, she learns that “solutions to poverty must be driven by discipline, accountability, and market strength, not easy sentimentality.” My solution was to found a microfinance organization that puts women in a position to create their own destinies and achieve their full potential. I too am learning this lesson.

Microfinance 121

Microfinance Travel Open-book Education 121

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

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.

Microfinance 12

Microfinance Due Diligence Cost-Benefit Analysis Industry 12

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 10, 2011

So far, the Andhra Pradesh (AP) microfinance crisis has largely been viewed as a local issue, with relatively little impact beyond AP or India's borders. Other microfinance crises, in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Bosnia, have not spread beyond the borders of a particular country. That could likely have consequences.

Microfinance 12

Microfinance Debt to Equity Ratio MFI Crisis 12

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 22, 2011

The microfinance industry has in just a few years gone from making headlines for the Nobel Peace Prize to stories about limited impact, allegedly abusive tactics, client suicides, government crackdowns, major lenders struggling with insolvency and the forcible removal of Mohammed Yunus as Managing Director of Grameen Bank.

Microfinance 15

Microfinance Entrepreneur Crisis Short-term 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2012

A hybrid approach is exemplified by startup Frogtek, which develops software for local shopkeepers in emerging markets to more efficiently track their inventory, leading to better purchasing decisions and greater profits. Hybrids thus risk mission drift, as they may over time start targeting wealthier and more profitable market segments.

Entrepreneur 13

Entrepreneur Microfinance Market Segmentation Incubator 13

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 17, 2014

An estimated 250 funds are actively raising capital in a market that the Global Impact Investing Network estimates at $25 billion. We allowed microfinance and the venture capital industry the time and space to develop over a few decades. Impact investing has captured the world’s imagination. Social enterprise Venture capital'

Development 8

Development Microfinance Biotechnology Exit Strategy 8