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Can Impact Investing Avoid the Failures of Microfinance?

Harvard Business Review

Impact investing can learn from the history of microfinance — the provision of debt and other financial services to the poor — an industry that was at a similar stage 15 years ago. Lessons from Microfinance. There are two major debates in particular about microfinance that are relevant for the impact investment industry.

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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.

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The Microfinance Contagion Scenario

Harvard Business Review

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.

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Microfinance Is Good for Women, but It's Only Part of the Solution

Harvard Business Review

Career paths are not one-size-fits-all, yet in emerging markets, it's often assumed that microfinance — the use of small loans to foster self-reliant small businesses in a community setting — is the only path for women seeking economic opportunity. Microfinance was one issue that we considered.

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Why CEOs have Liberal Arts Degrees

Mills Scofield

They are leading global airline, chemical, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and financial companies, among others. She's spending the summer in Dhaka doing microfinance. Some of today's top CEOs were history, political science, sociology, chinese and music majors in college. Let's hear it from her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

CEO 70
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Why CEOs have Liberal Arts Degrees

Mills Scofield

They are leading global airline, chemical, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and financial companies, among others. She's spending the summer in Dhaka doing microfinance. Some of today's top CEOs were history, political science, sociology, chinese and music majors in college. Let's hear it from her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

CEO 70
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Servant Leadership Observer ? November 2010

Modern Servant Leader

Peer-to-Peer Microfinance: A Sustainable Solution to Poverty. Leading Global Teams. To Our Military: Thank You For Your Service. Publishing The New Advanced Degree Model? Servant Leadership Observer – December 2010. Careers for Servant Leaders. The Value of Making Time for Gratitude. Know Your Social Media Hierarchy. Paul Gillin.