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Responsible lending key to microfinance
Mumbai: Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are still struggling for recovery after a crisis triggered by an Andhra Pradesh law in October 2010 that reined in MFIs, which lend small sums of money to poor borrowers; the state is India’s biggest market for such loans. The MFI sector was the subject of a Mint Clarity Through Debate event in Mumbai last week. Responsible lending is is key for the sector’s revival, according to the participants. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor K.C. Chakrabarty; director of the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning Usha Thorat; Basix group chairman Vijay Mahajan; chairman and managing director of Small Industries Development Bank of India Sushil Muhnot; International Finance Corporation’s regional manager, financial markets and private equity, Manoj Prashar; and Bandhan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd chairman Chandra Shekhar Ghosh were the panellists in the discussion. Mint’s deputy managing editor Tamal Bandyopadhyay moderated the discussion. Edited excerpts:
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Former Chairman of SKS Microfinance Akula Shares Lessons Learned
Vikram Akula, the former Chairman of SKS Microfinance, broke his silence today about the mistakes he made in his social venture, in a speech at the Social Enterprise Conference at Harvard. Akula acknowledged the legitimacy of the criticism he had received from Mohammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor and Founder of Grameen Bank, who had long taken issue with SKS’s deployment of private capital in microfinance and its profit orientation.
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Micro-lender’s Own Probe Links It to 200 Suicides
First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, televisions, ration cards and heirloom gold jewelry. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself in a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children.
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The State and Future of Impact Investing
In a recent interview with Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO of Nonprofit Finance Fund, we discussed his new book about the impact investing sector, emerging trends and ideas in this space, challenges and opportunities moving forward, what the world would look like if the potential of impact investing were to be realized, and advice to traditional investors interested in becoming an impact investor.
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Assembling a Network for Impact Across Latin America
How far has impact investing come in Latin America, and what steps need to be taken to unleash the potential of business to address social and environmental problems in the region? These are the questions that more than 300 leaders in the impact investing field came together to address in Merida, Mexico at last week’s Foro Latinoamericano de Inversion de Impacto (Latin American Impact Investing Forum), hosted by New Ventures Mexico.
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Muhammad Yunus, IIM-A Set to Float Rs 50 Crore Fund to Seed Social Business
MUMBAI: Professor Muhammad Yunus, the father of microfinance and chairman of the Yunus Centre in Bangladesh, has finally found a taker for his brand of social businesses in India. He is joining hands with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) to float a Rs 50-crore fund to seed social ventures.
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Alliance Pushes Social Entrepreneurship Bill
An alliance of farmers, workers, community enterprises, business associations and fair trade groups is pushing for the approval of a measure designed to institutionalize social entrepreneurship (SE) nationwide.
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Gearing up for the 2012 Harvard Social Enterprise Conference
NextBillion is heading to Harvard this coming weekend along with 1,500 attendees and 75 speakers to cover the annual Social Enterprise Conference. The student-run conference, jointly produced by Harvard Business School and Harvard School of Government, is in its 13th year and boasts a wide array of keynotes, panels, a social business plan competition, and a career fair - all embodying innovation, inclusion, and impact.
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