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Financial Inclusion Week: Reflection and Action from Three Leading Voices
Today, the Center for Financial Inclusion is wrapping up Financial Inclusion Week. The intention for the week was to ask some soul-searching questions about what it means to be inclusive – and about how financial access in the age of fintech can impact the lives of millions, for good or ill. We caught up with three leading voices in the field, asking each of them three key questions focused on what financial inclusion means to them from a personal, organizational and international standpoint.
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- Finance, Impact Assessment, Investing, Technology
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Charting the Next Decade in the Global Small and Growing Business Sector: A Q&A with ANDE Executive Director Randall Kempner
The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, a membership organization of investment groups, NGOs and business ecosystem advocates, recently marked its 10th anniversary. As it approaches a second decade moving the global small and growing business sector forward, ANDE announced a new strategy that focuses on gender, the environment and job creation. We spoke with Executive Director Randall Kempner about what the future holds for ANDE and the global SGB sector.
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- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Who Owns Poverty?: A Q&A with Fundación Paraguaya Founder and CEO Martin Burt
Why do so many anti-poverty efforts fail? And what should we do differently? In his new book, "Who Owns Poverty," Fundación Paraguaya founder and CEO Martin Burt explores those questions from the viewpoint of the real experts: poor families themselves. He presents some key insights from the book in this Q&A – and the book is available to NextBillion readers at a discount (or as a free e-book)!
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- Entrepreneurship, Finance
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Scaling your Social Enterprise – While Handling your Success: A Q&A with Microfinance Pioneer Alex Counts
Few people know more about the opportunities and pitfalls of scaling a social enterprise than Alex Counts. A seminal figure in microfinance, he led Grameen Foundation's growth from a $6,000 start-up to a $20 million powerhouse, while playing a key role in the often turbulent expansion of the broader microfinance sector. NextBillion caught up with Counts to discuss his latest book, “Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind.” The book – and this Q&A – provide essential advice for social impact leaders working to grow their organizations – and dealing with the new tensions scale can bring.
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- Entrepreneurship, Finance
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Good News for Microfinance: Grameen America Discusses Promising New Research on its Anti-Poverty Impact
In an atmosphere of considerable skepticism about microfinance's anti-poverty impact, Grameen America recently released some positive findings: Early results from an RCT on its group lending model show solid impacts on areas ranging from members' credit scores to their business operations. NextBillion spoke with Marcus Berkowitz, VP of Technology & Innovation at Grameen America, to discuss these results and their implications for microfinance in the U.S. and globally.
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- Entrepreneurship, Finance, NextBillion Originals
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How Can Fintech Serve the Poor? A Q&A with CGAP CEO Greta Bull
As fintech innovation transforms the financial sphere, what are the implications for low-income and unbanked individuals? Greta Bull, CEO of CGAP, explored this question in a widely read essay earlier this year, and NextBillion followed up to get a deeper sense of her views on fintech's potential (and practical) impact. Her thoughts offer an important barometer of an organization and an industry in transition, as the tech revolution continues to reshape financial inclusion.
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- Finance
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Chopping Block to Starting Block: How OPIC (Now IDFC) is Writing the Next Chapter in U.S. Development Finance
The Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) just survived a near death experience. The agency was among the proposed cuts when the Trump administration came into power and began budget negotiations. But with the passage of the BUILD Act, OPIC will transform into the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, with a new budget and a new set of financial tools. We caught up with David Bohigian, Executive Vice President of OPIC, at SOCAP18 to find out what these changes mean for entrepreneurs and others seeking development finance.
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- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing
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Deciphering the Data Deluge: Making Data More Useful for Financial Inclusion
Data can have a transformative impact on financial inclusion efforts. But it will reach its full potential only if industry stakeholders can truly understand and utilize it for the benefit of customers. In this Q&A, Camilla Nestor, CEO of MIX, discusses how MIX's FINClusion Lab is making data available to financial services providers, regulators, policymakers and others in a format they can actually use.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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