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NextThought Monday: Three Assumptions You Should Avoid When Working with the BoP
My goal in Villa El Salvador — an urban, residential district on the outskirts of a desert area in Lima —was to supervise a focus group with inhabitants of this neighborhood that will be part of a broader study that IDB’s Opportunities for the Majority is developing as part of its 2014 knowledge production strategy. Many of participants in the focus group surprised me with some of their answers, as they went against many of my rooted preconceptions.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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NextThought Monday: Want to end poverty? Bring financial education and empowerment to the youth, says Jeroo Billimoria
Until recently, the financial industry tended to dismiss the thought of young people as necessary customers. Many still feel that youth should be protected, that they don’t need to learn about finance until later in life. On the contrary: to eradicate poverty, we have to ensure that every child is financially capable and included, says Jeroo Billimoria of Child and Youth Finance International.
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NextThought Monday: Why I’m optimistic about small-dollar credit in the U.S.
The dangers of payday loans and similar products are well-known: they are extremely expensive, often with triple-digit interest rates, and structured in a way that easily traps borrowers in a cycle of debt. Yet CFSI’s Beth Brockland sees cause for optimism in the small-dollar credit marketplace in the U.S. - and this optimism could extend to other developing markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Ripe for Innovation: CGAP CEO Tilman Ehrbeck, On How New Approaches to Financial Services for the Poor Are Overcoming a Massive Market Failure
As part of NextBillion Financial Innovation’s launch, we invited a number of top innovators and leaders to contribute their views on financial innovation – what’s driving it, where momentum is heading, and what obstacles remain. Today Tilman Ehrbeck, CEO of CGAP, explores why financial exclusion has persisted at the BoP, and how innovation is turning this around.
- Categories
- Finance
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NextThought Monday – An Alternative to Alternative Energy: Will microfinance embrace biogas for the BoP?
Solar was once the wild west of alternative energy. Today, microfinance banks see it as a solid investment, even for poor clients, and bio-gas may follow its footsteps.
- Tags
- microfinance, solar
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The Best of 2012: Making the Most of Missteps: At Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, SKS’s Akula Opens up on Failure
Conferences usually are not the venue for owning up to failure. But on first day of the 2012 Social Enterprise Conference, Vikram Akula, the founder of SKS Microfinance who left the organization in November 2011, made just such an confession.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- failure, microfinance
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From Pavement Begging to Stable Housing, Stable Incomes : The Equitas Bird’s Nest program is moving pavement dwellers in Chennai toward secure housing
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview John about Equitas’s ultra poor pilot in Chennai. In this interview, he talks about the challenges his team faced while working with the pavement dwellers, the importance of sustainability and the road ahead for Equitas Bird’s Nest program.
- Categories
- Finance
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Is Brazil Truly a Latin American Social Housing Leader?
Extreme poverty levels have decreased by over 50 percent since 2003 as a result of several initiatives across Brazil. In the housing sector, the most notable effort was the 2009 launch of Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life) – aimed at constructing new homes while simultaneously creating objectives to cease the presence of insalubrious living conditions that have long characterized the country. The program has subsequently become a template for progress in global BoP housing sector, but a closer look at the facts reveals another story…
- Categories
- Finance, Uncategorized
- Tags
- housing, infrastructure