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

MARCH 8, 2011

On this 100th International Women's Day , it is right to reflect on how women have become the heart of the microfinance industry. It is easy to forget that the initial motivation for microfinance roughly 30 years ago was, to a great extent, gender neutral. Microfinance is about much more than extending credit.

Microfinance 14

Microfinance Banking Globalization Insurance 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 11, 2013

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. We know that microfinance alone will not break the poverty cycle.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance Rogers Tourism Engineering 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 17, 2016

But in the post-industrial world, most of us are knowledge workers at least in part — the means of production is our brainpower, which we retain ownership of no matter what our job is. And if you need access to money, crowdfunding platforms and microfinance options make that easier than ever. What about motive ?

Drucker 8

Drucker Microfinance Licensing Entrepreneur 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Here, the protocols from other industries can provide some insight. The pharmaceutical industry also creates products with complex interactions and potentially dangerous side effects. The gaming industry has created much of the infrastructure required for both the learning and monitoring required.

Banking 10

Banking Pharmaceuticals Microfinance Risk Management 10

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 28, 2016

Currently, impact can mean anything from venture investments in new health technologies to microfinance loans in Peru; from affordable housing in the US to renewable energy in India; from social impact bonds to private equity funds that create jobs. Or third, and more common, is that they sit on the impact-investing sidelines.

Class 8

Class Microfinance Supply Chain Education 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 17, 2014

Hospitals, parks, educational systems, sanitation infrastructure, low-income housing — globally, risk-seeking investors build these solutions in partnership with the public sector, which plays its part to adjust incentives, act as a major customer, and provide subsidy where needed. Surely we can do the same for impact investing.

Development 8

Development Microfinance Biotechnology Exit Strategy 8