Mills Scofield

JUNE 16, 2013

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. It’s time for us to finally put poverty out of business for good. [1]

Innovation 161

Innovation Microfinance Business Model Self-aware 161

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 13

Microfinance Debt to Equity Ratio MFI Crisis 13

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 16, 2011

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.

Microfinance 14

Microfinance Diversity Banking Trends 14

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

JUNE 13, 2012

But even more so, I believe that deep down, managers and executives feel that getting by on razor-thin margins is the morally correct way to do business among the poor. The microfinance industry is a rare D and E success story. Given its flaws, I've often wondered why the low-price, low-margin philosophy has persisted.

Microfinance 14

Microfinance Prahalad Bottom-up Banking 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 11, 2013

Fielding calls from donors with ideas is nothing new, but truly listening—even when their ideas challenge the status quo—is a paradigm shift in how nonprofit executives engage with their donors. We know that microfinance alone will not break the poverty cycle.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance Rogers Tourism Engineering 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 9, 2011

David McKenzie's research in Sri Lanka, Mexico, Brazil and Ghana has shown that urban male entrepreneurs typically earn far higher returns from microfinance than women do (in Sri Lanka average returns on capital for women were 0%, for men 10%). Consider the undeniable costs of a caricatured bias toward women.

Microfinance 14

Microfinance Globalization Long-term Class 14