Articles by Alex Counts
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Guest Articles
Thursday
August 31
2023Yunus Was Right — Credit is Indeed a Human Right, and Savings is Important Too: Why the Microfinance Sector Must Avoid the ‘Circular Firing Squad’ and Promote Multiple Approaches to Financial Inclusion
Alex Counts, financial inclusion pioneer and founder of Grameen Foundation, took issue with Jeffrey Ashe’s recent NextBillion article, “Yunus Was Wrong—Savings, Not Credit, is a Human Right.” He argues that, instead of seeing the world through an “either/or” lens, the financial inclusion sector should embrace multiple tools, including credit, savings, insurance and more — and he urges today's changemakers to avoid promoting one social innovation at the expense of others.
- Categories
- Finance, Social Enterprise
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Guest Articles
Tuesday
June 23
2020Leading a Social Impact Organization During COVID-19: Eight Ways to Navigate the Current Crisis
Leading a social impact-focused organization during a crisis like COVID-19 isn't easy. Alex Counts, the founder of Grameen Foundation and author of two recent books on mission-driven leadership, shares some of the top lessons he has learned from his decades in the sector, to help leaders guide their non-profits and social enterprises through this time of national and global crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Social Enterprise
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Interviews
Tuesday
June 11
2019Scaling 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.
- Categories
- Finance, Social Enterprise
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Tuesday
February 3
2015How to Make Good on Gates’ Big Bets? : By doubling down on bundled solutions
The Bill and Melinda Gates’ 2015 letter identifies four “big bets” that could lead us to a future with vastly reduced levels of poverty. At the Grameen Foundation we are bundling two of these “bets” - financial services with practical information on good farming practices - into a unified push to reduce rural poverty.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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Guest Articles
Friday
July 11
2014Rebuilding Haiti with Mobile Phones: How mobile data collection and management is facilitating relief efforts
Grameen Foundation originally designed TaroWorks to facilitate analysis of data gathered on mobile phones to help track poverty levels. But as Alex Counts describes it, it has evolved into a mobile-based field-force management tool used by a growing number of humanitarian groups and social enterprises - including an organization that’s using it to facilitate relief efforts in Haiti.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
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Wednesday
January 22
2014The Implications of Scarcity for Microfinance: Grameen Foundation’s Alex Counts, on how understanding scarcity’s impact can improve microfinance practices
Behavioral economics could transform international development, says Grameen Foundation CEO Alex Counts. In some cases, it may reaffirm current practice. In others, it could suggest that these “best practices” are counter-productive. In this thought-provoking post, Counts explores the implications of scarcity for microfinance, when looked at through a behavioral economics lens.
- Categories
- Education
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Friday
January 17
2014Contemplating Scarcity: Grameen Foundation’s Alex Counts on how the phenomenon of scarcity impacts microfinance and poverty alleviation
Alex Counts, president and CEO of Grameen Foundation, discusses new research on the phenomenon of scarcity – how having too little of anything important to the human experience can impact policy and practice in microfinance and poverty alleviation.
- Categories
- Education
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Wednesday
September 18
2013Poverty-Focused Innovation: Alex Counts, CEO of Grameen Foundation, on how to foster financial innovation by creating agency for the poor
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, Alex Counts, CEO of Grameen Foundation, deconstructs the foundation’s approach to financial innovation – and how it maintains the focus on the poor for which the Grameen name is famous.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
