NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Microfinance has sought out to include individuals that financial institutions exclude. The mission had been progressively widening to Alternative Finance, which has thrived outside of conventional financial instruments and channels. Alternative Finance takes different types such as angel investment, asset funding, cash flow funding, crowdfunding, crypto-currencies (Bitcoin), fair investment, fintech, slow money, pension fund investments, social impact bond, etc. All the types have resulted from social and/or technological innovations or a mix of both. They provide significant values to customers and investors. Some of the benefits include absence of lengthy applications, low documentation, almost no collateral, minimum or no credit score requirements, high approval rates, and fast funding.

Alternative finance has also widened the base of customers. While microfinance mainly aimed at making financial services available to people at the “Bottom of the Pyramid”, Alternative finance has gone beyond to target not only the poor, but also small enterprises, young and innovative ventures, women, minorities, individuals with no credit history, and any other audience excluded by the conventional institutions. While microfinance’s target is mainly the poor, alternative finance’s finance is the excluded.

The conference welcomes research papers, monographies, case studies, PhD research-in-progress and experiential insights on different topics and experiments of alternative finance. ITEM encourages in particular, reflections on the social and technological innovations, which broaden and deepen the range of alternative finance.