“Microfinance” is defined as – the field within financial services in which companies lend capital and provide financial services to low-income groups or individuals who do not typically have access to these services, in order to provide them with opportunity to become financially self-sufficient.
Abby Callard, Beyond Profit This is the first post in a three week long series from Beyond Profit and Triple Pundit that will explore innovative business models aimed at tapping the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) market. More than 3 billion people worldwide live on less than US$2.50 a day—less than a morning coffee at [...]
Reporting from SoCap 2010: Convincing one wealthy donor to invest $50M to provide education loans to underserved individuals seems like a daunting task. But what about convincing 1 million people to invest just $50 each? Could you convince the millions of people that make charitable donations every year to instead make a loan to a [...]
This post is the part of a special series on Clean Energy and the BoP leading up to the launch of the report “Power to the People” in Mumbai on the 28th of September 2010. The first article of this series can be found here: Power to the People Part 1 The launch announcement of the Global Alliance [...]
Haitians have endured a most excruciating year. Recovery from the January earthquake has progressed far too slowly, funds promised for the relief effort have been slow to arrive–and funds deposited have often been squandered. Reconstruction has been painful–much of it has been done by hand. But technology should have a role in rebuilding one of [...]
As part of our partnership with the Social Capital Markets Conference 2010, we are featuring a series of interviews with key conference participants. Don’t forget to get your 30% discount by using the code “3P30″ when you register! Deborah Hirsh recently co-founded The Hoop Fund, an exciting new start-up which connect producers and consumers to make [...]
Until about one hundred years ago, most of the products we used on a daily basis were manufactured close to our homes, including personal care, food, and machines. Jobs and money flowed out of local communities as manufacturing and sourcing moved further towards an industrial global system in the mid twentieth century. Small manufacturers were pushed out of business, destroying communities that depended on these factories. These businesses must be rebuilt for local economies to grow and flourish.
By Bryan Stubbs While not perfect, microfinance and Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) have been shown to be an effective tool in aiding mircoenterprises throughout third world communities. The positive impact they have on alleviating poverty and empowering entrepreneurs have been well publicized (Grameen Bank or BRAC). And while challenges remain (high interest rates/impact of the entrance [...]
While microfinance has been a popular and successful tool in third world countries for more than four decades, the overt theme at the Microfinance USA 2010 conference in San Francisco is that domestic micro lending is an untapped, growing market that is not only much in demand, but is greatly in need. In simplest terms, [...]
By Terry Provance, Executive Director, Oikocredit USA When Mohammad Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for creating the Grameen Microcredit Bank in Bangladesh he stated, “Poverty is the absence of all human rights.” He seemed to be echoing what Mahatma Gandhi said about poverty being the worst form of violence 60 years before. [...]
By Bryan Stubbs If growing from a regional to a national conference over the course of a single year is any indication, next week’s Microfinance USA conference (May 20 & 21 in San Francisco) is sure to attract plenty of attention. Concentrating primarily on domestic microfinance, it “will bring together investors, policymakers, social entrepreneurs, practitioners, [...]
“This is a once-only opportunity to build a whole new country from scratch, perhaps to offer something of the good wishes the new nation should have been given 200 years ago,” writes AA Gill in the London Times, in a gut-wrenching account of living conditions in Haiti today, three months after a crushingly destructive earthquake [...]
By Eric Weaver I was very excited to see the article in The New York Times questioning the business practices and transparency of some of the organizations making loans to very poor people around the world. There are clearly abuses going on, and much greater scrutiny needs to be applied to businesses adding the increasingly [...]
By Rebecca Busse In C.K. Pralahad’s 2004 book “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits,” Pralahad writes about what he sees as the most exciting growth market: the “bottom of the pyramid,” or the billions of poor people in developing countries. Far from being a “poverty pimp,” Pralahad posits that [...]
By Rebecca Busse A large spider crawled up the side of the solar charge controller while Enrique explained how the solar panel system worked. Unaffected, Enrique continued to explain wattage, switches and the maintenance of the panels to the assembled group of MBA students, extended family members and the occasional chicken or dog that would [...]
There are a few conferences every year that we get really excited about here at 3p. Microfinance USA, coming up in May, is one we’ve had our eye on for a while. Why? Entrepreneurship plays an incredibly important role in building a more sustainable future. This fact is especially magnified in parts of the world [...]
Microfinance is feel-good. It’s win-win-win for investors without demanding return requirements. It’s low risk. It helps the poor and empowers an escape from subsistence living. Microfinance is finance we can live with, far from Wall Street’s psychotic derivatives and Madoff-styled sociopaths. Microfinance is lending and investing that’s so ideal that it’s almost cutesy. However, it’s [...]
By Eric Weaver, CEO, Opportunity Fund Last month, Opportunity Fund helped truckers beat a February deadline to retrofit their truck engines as new EPA emissions standards in California went into effect. Truckers told Opportunity Fund that without loans to cover the retrofitting costs, they would have had to give up trucking or move their business [...]
Microfinance, something now fairly common and even mainstream in 2010, was a novel concept when we first wrote about Kiva in 2005. At that time, you could only lend to people in Uganda. Now you can lend to people around the world, and in a clear sign microfinance has moved beyond being only about helping [...]
Editor’s Note: The following is a guest op-ed by Eric Weaver, Opportunity Fund, and Matt Lonner, Chevron. Periodically we are approached by companies wishing to publish op-ed material and other content, sometimes we accept it, sometimes not. We were recently approached by Chevron to do this. While the oil industry is a controversial one on [...]
West Coast Village Capital (WCVC) is a social venture program that brings together entrepreneurs to learn from and support each other’s social enterprises. Over the course of 12 weeks, beginning in January 2010, up to 30 social entrepreneurs will work together in groups of five to share their knowledge, strengthen their models, and build their [...]
Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore received the 2009 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award last Thursday evening for his successful efforts to raise awareness about climate change. The award was inspired by Applied Materials Chairman Emeritus James Morgan’s belief that technology can be a tool to turn ideas into solutions for a [...]
By David Abraham Blue Financial, a South African microfinance institution, just launched its Cashxpress product in Rwanda. The service is intended to help employed, yet low-income, individuals borrow money in emergency situations. According to the Blue Financial website, Cashexpress is unique since it will disburse unsecured loans of between 100 and 5,000 Rands ($13 to $677 USD) to existing customers who [...]
What do being socially minded, financially wise, and sustainable – and being in college – have to do with each other? A lot, as evidenced by the work of Debt Free U, a non-profit that helps college kids understand basic finance so they don’t wind up in unmanageable debt. If kids are the future, the [...]
By: Scott Shuffield The global warming debate is over. Now the argument moves to solving the crisis of climate change. Though often referred to in the context of “global warming,” the issues of climate change don’t just involve “warming” around the world but rather a general instability that could lead to innumerable negative externalities. During [...]
By: Scott Shuffield “Service to society, guided by well-articulated values, is not just ‘nice to do’ but an integral part of the business models for companies.” – from SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good by Rosabeth Moss Kanter Years ago, Sam Palmisano, CEO of IBM, told the board of directors [...]
Kiva.org, the world’s largest microfinance site, is so successful in part because Kiva itself is so fun, interactive, and imaginative in its presentation. They work with a host of field partners that fund small loans. People give small donations that finance these loans, and can see pictures of the businessperson, read about their idea, and [...]
By Rebecca Busse Microfinance in the US is an entirely different species than its international cousin. Microfinance was popularized by Mohammad Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Grameen Bank as “Banker to the Poor” in Bangladesh. His work started a revolution in poverty alleviation, with the aim of [...]
If you’ve been seriously bruised in the stock market lately, and your 401k is starting to look like a 201k, maybe it’s time to consider investing your money where it can do some good. The expanding area of socially responsible investing (SRI) is offering a growing selection of innovative financial products that provide both financial [...]
Amidst a free-falling roller coaster global economy, social capital is an encouraging bright spot. While traditional profit-driven capitalism has come into question, the social capital movement is budding, striving to do good and make money at once, shattering the traditional for-profit, non-profit dichotomy. I was a relative newbie at the first Social Capital Markets Conference [...]
In honor of Blog Action Day, Triple Pundit is pleased to highlight E+Co. A public purpose investment company (read: non-profit investment co), E+Co goes beyond microfinance by providing local energy entrepreneurs in developing countries with business development services as well as investment capitol. Using their enterprise centered business model E+Co investees provide clean, affordable energy [...]
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Bard College MBA in Sustainability
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[coming soon] The Green Beer Series 2012
San Diego: June 4-7
Sustainable Brands 2012: Join us as the Sustainability, Brand Strategy and Innovation Communities convene to shape the future. Discover and participate in the sustainable brand revolution by collaborating to shift consumer demand, drive heretical innovation, and evolve the business case. 20% Reader discount with code "nwtripsb12".
Webinar: June 5
Running an Effective Corporate Volunteer Program with AngelPoints: Key clients discuss how they put the AngelPoints Volunteering solution to work for them. Attend this webinar to learn best practices, tips & tricks - and how to get an effective volunteer program off the ground at your organization.
Seattle: June 11-12GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!
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Sustainable Industries Economic Forum:
NYC: June 27-28Responsible Business Summit USA: Discover how to fully embed and integrate CSR in your organization. Learn how to collaborate with key stakeholders and establish competitive edge using proven CSR strategies. Hear best practices from GAP Inc, Timberland, Lockheed Martin, Life Technologies, Campbell Soup and many more.
Minneapolis: July 19-20GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!
Boston: Sep 13-14GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!
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