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NextThought Monday: Why I’m optimistic about small-dollar credit in the U.S.
The dangers of payday loans and similar products are well-known: they are extremely expensive, often with triple-digit interest rates, and structured in a way that easily traps borrowers in a cycle of debt. Yet CFSI’s Beth Brockland sees cause for optimism in the small-dollar credit marketplace in the U.S. - and this optimism could extend to other developing markets.
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- Finance, Technology
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Habitat for Humanity launches housing micro-credit in Costa Rica
Poor would-be homeowners will have the chance to remodel or build their own homes in a housing market that skews toward the rich.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- housing, human rights, microfinance
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Ripe for Innovation: CGAP CEO Tilman Ehrbeck, On How New Approaches to Financial Services for the Poor Are Overcoming a Massive Market Failure
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 Tilman Ehrbeck, CEO of CGAP, explores why financial exclusion has persisted at the BoP, and how innovation is turning this around.
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- Finance
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NextThought Monday – An Alternative to Alternative Energy: Will microfinance embrace biogas for the BoP?
Solar was once the wild west of alternative energy. Today, microfinance banks see it as a solid investment, even for poor clients, and bio-gas may follow its footsteps.
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- microfinance, solar
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The Best of 2012: Making the Most of Missteps: At Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, SKS’s Akula Opens up on Failure
Conferences usually are not the venue for owning up to failure. But on first day of the 2012 Social Enterprise Conference, Vikram Akula, the founder of SKS Microfinance who left the organization in November 2011, made just such an confession.
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- Finance
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- failure, microfinance
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Habitat for Humanity and the Citi Foundation Unveil Housing Microfinance Toolkit
Habitat for Humanity and the Citi Foundation announced the publication of a new toolkit designed to provide technical training and tools to encourage microfinance institutions to include or enhance housing microfinance products in their portfolios. The Housing Microfinance: Product Development Toolkit is intended to influence the $60 billion global microfinance sector, resulting in small, affordable loans that low-income families can use to improve their housing incrementally.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- housing, microfinance
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Habitat for Humanity Canada and The MasterCard Foundation partner to expand access to housing microfinance in Africa
ACCRA, Ghana, Oct. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Habitat for Humanity Canada, Habitat for Humanity International (collectively "Habitat") and The MasterCard Foundation today announced the launch of a $6.6 million, five-year partnership to expand microfinance services to maintain and improve homes for disadvantaged families in three African countries.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- housing, microfinance
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From Pavement Begging to Stable Housing, Stable Incomes : The Equitas Bird’s Nest program is moving pavement dwellers in Chennai toward secure housing
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview John about Equitas’s ultra poor pilot in Chennai. In this interview, he talks about the challenges his team faced while working with the pavement dwellers, the importance of sustainability and the road ahead for Equitas Bird’s Nest program.
- Categories
- Finance