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

“The motive of immigrants is to come here, get a job and to work hard and send money back home to support their family”

– Atsumasa Tochisako, the chief executive of Microfinance International Corporation

The New York Times quoted Mr. Tochisako in the article “Entrepreneurs Cater to Immigrants’ Financial Needs” yesterday. The piece focused on how not only to decrease the costs that immigrants face when they send money to their countries of origin for their families, but also how to help give those immigrants more control over how their families handle their money.

In addition to remmittances, services have also emerged that enable immigrants to choose the goods that the money they send home buy. DeCompras.com, a Monterrey, Mexico-based web platform, allows immigrants to order goods from Mexican stores online that the service will then deliver to residences chosen by the buyer in Mexico.

These models represent an important potential business opportunity: the available options to recent immigrants who want to help, as well as maintain in contact with, the loved ones they left behind