Articles by James Militzer
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Interviews
Thursday
January 18
2018Getting Real About Innovation: Why Accion’s U.S. Network Made the Leap to Digitize its Lending Operations
Technology can boost small businesses' access to finance, but can also risk trapping them in a cycle of debt. And for lenders serving lower-income entrepreneurs, these risks and rewards are more acute. Gina Harman, CEO of Accion’s U.S. Network, discusses its ambitious efforts to digitize lending operations across its national online platform in this podcast Q&A, exploring how established organizations can adapt to emerging technologies – without compromising their missions.
- Categories
- Finance
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Guest Articles
Thursday
December 21
2017New Products, New Markets – New Risks? Microfinance Shifts its Gaze to Housing
$2.3 trillion: That's what low-income households are predicted to spend on urban housing by 2025. So it's no surprise that many microfinance providers view housing lending as their next big opportunity for both profit and social impact. But this new focus brings plenty of challenges – and more than a few risks. We explore the implications of this development – a key topic of discussion at the recent European Microfinance Week.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Wednesday
November 29
2017Blended Finance Gets a $500 Million Boost: Convergence CEO Discusses Groundbreaking Partnership with IFC
US $2.5 trillion: That’s the estimated funding gap the world needs to close in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. To achieve this daunting goal, says Convergence CEO Joan Larrea, “We need to tap into new sources of capital, particularly from private investors” – a goal Convergence advances by connecting, educating and supporting investors to execute blended finance transactions. This approach recently got a half billion dollar shot in the arm; our interview with Larrea reveals how.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
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Thursday
October 19
2017Deciphering Emerson’s Tears – Is it Time for Impact Investing to Lower its Expectations?
At SOCAP17, impact investing pioneer Jed Emerson gave a tearful speech from the main plenary stage, in which he called on the industry to remember the true purpose of capital, and not to let its efforts to build the market distract from its higher goals. We explore some potential implications of this emotional high point of the conference.
- Categories
- Investing
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Thursday
October 5
2017Why Gyms Love January: Leveraging Behavioral Economics for Financial Health
People are famously irrational when it comes to financial matters. We can't seem to resist wasting money on things that we know aren't beneficial. Why do we make self-defeating financial decisions, and how can we be persuaded to change them? Evelyn Stark, financial inclusion lead at MetLife Foundation, discusses the ways financial service providers are leveraging behavioral science to help their clients spend less and save more, in the latest NextBillion podcast.
- Categories
- Finance
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Guest Articles
Friday
August 4
2017James Militzer / Sonya Vann DeLoach
Fear of a Jobless Planet: Can Entrepreneurship Counter the Coming AI Employment Crisis?
Imagine a future where robots are capable of doing just about everything under the sun, rendering countless professions across practically every industry obsolete. The first part of that dystopian vision has already come to pass. The second part hasn't, but could well be coming. What might be the solution? According to what we learned in July – entrepreneurship month at NB – it might fall on small businesses to answer the challenge.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
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Friday
June 30
2017From Kentucky to Kenya: Celebrating Financial Inclusion’s Potential – And Facing its Limitations
The financial inclusion industry is arguably more innovative and attuned to the needs of low-income clients than ever before. But how much of an impact can it make in a world where the problems of poverty and income inequality increasingly plague not only low-income countries, but wealthy ones too? We discuss the issue as NextBillion's Financial Inclusion Month concludes.
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- Uncategorized
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Thursday
June 15
2017Announcing NextBillion Financial Health: New Partnership with MetLife Foundation Reflects the Evolution of Financial Inclusion
NextBillion is officially re-launching our Financial Innovation site with a new name and partner. The site will now be called Financial Health, and it’s being sponsored by MetLife Foundation. The Foundation shares our concept of how the new NextBillion Financial Health site can best serve our readers: By providing a platform for sharing insights, data, and analysis through articles that ask the big question of what works – and what doesn't – in the movement to help more people use financial services to improve the quality of their lives.
- Categories
- Uncategorized