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The Future of Microfinance: An Interview With Ira W. Lieberman
Though its profile is somewhat lower than in its heyday, microfinance remains a relevant player in the development sector, supporting some 200 million people worldwide. A new book, “The Future of Microfinance,” contemplates the industry's tumultuous evolution and future development. NextBillion spoke with Ira W. Lieberman, a co-editor of the book, to discuss its thought-provoking insights.
- Categories
- Finance, NextBillion Originals
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Moving Past Traditional Philanthropy: A Q&A with Enterprise Development Pioneer Frank Giustra
Earlier this year, the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership announced that it was spinning off from the Clinton Foundation, where it had been an initiative since its founding in 2007. The independent organization, now called Acceso, works to build businesses and connect them to the broader marketplace – particularly in Latin America. Its founder, Frank Giustra, discusses its new focus and ongoing work in this Q&A.
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- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship, Investing
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Closing in on the SDG Home Stretch: A Q&A with Florian Kemmerich and Lucica Ditiu at SDG500
Six new funds comprise the new SDG500 initiative – a first-of-its-kind, $500 million investment platform aimed at accelerating progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Florian Kemmerich at Bamboo Capital Partners and Lucica Ditiu of the Stop TB Partnership spoke with NextBillion to share a behind-the-scenes look at how the initiative aims to reach its goals by 2030.
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Investing from the ‘Frontier of the Frontier’: Lessons from Ten Years as an Investment Advisor in Africa
With six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies, Africa is an attractive target for investors. But investing there doesn’t always come easy. Ten years ago, Andreas Zeller moved to Nairobi and co-founded Open Capital Advisors, which helps investors access African markets, and helps African businesses become investment-ready. In this interview, Zeller discusses how development and donor agencies can remove the barriers to investment throughout the continent.
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- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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‘Failing to Win’ as a Social Entrepreneur: A Q&A with Zoona Co-Founder Mike Quinn
Mike Quinn had no savings when he co-founded Zoona in Zambia in 2009. He also had $50,000 in student debt. During an early cash crisis, he had to ask his retired parents to mortgage their house and wire him $100,000. Yet he and his co-founders built Zoona into one of Africa’s first fintech success stories before Quinn stepped away last year. In this Q&A – the first in our series “The Untold Stories of Social Entrepreneurs” – he discusses the lessons he learned from Zoona’s successes and failures.
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- Entrepreneurship, Finance, NextBillion Originals
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Leveraging Blockchain for Good: A Q&A with Ken Weber, Head of Social Impact at Ripple
Blockchain has been sparking social innovation for years – and much of it has focused on payments. Ripple has been an innovator in this space since 2012, leveraging its blockchain-powered payment technology to enable international remittances through a network that now spans over 40 countries and six continents. In this Q&A, Ken Weber, Ripple’s Head of Social Impact discusses the company's multi-faceted efforts to "advance socially responsible and equitable uses of blockchain, cryptocurrency and related technologies.”
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- Finance, Technology
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How Microfinance Can Impact Employment: Going Beyond Microloans to Microentrepreneurs
Though its focus has broadened in recent years, microfinance and employment have always gone hand-in-hand. In this video interview, Craig Churchill, head of the Social Finance Programme at the International Labour Organization, discusses how modern microfinance can better serve the low-income labor force – from supporting job-creating startups, to responding to poor labor practices among their clients.
- Categories
- Finance
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The Power of Individuals: Why Formal Institutions Aren’t the Only Ones Driving Africa’s Innovation and Fintech Space
There’s a lot of attention on the businesses, NGOs and other institutions reshaping Africa’s fintech ecosystem. But there are equally important efforts underway – conducted not by institutions themselves, but by the individuals working within them – to build bridges between organizations, and create support networks for entrepreneurs and innovators. In this Q&A, Zianah Muddu, General Secretary of the Africa Fintech Network, discusses the pivotal – often overlooked – impact of this work.
- Categories
- Finance
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