NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Microfinance Unlocks Potential of the Poor

Drawn by their corporate responsibility agendas and the promise of profitability, commercial banks have been entering the microfinance market, with Credit Agricole and JPMorgan among recent entrants. But when it comes to serving the 4bn people living on less than $2 a day, traditional microfinance models are not the only means of expanding access to financial services. In Ghana, for example, Barclaysoffers deposit accounts to traditional Susu collectors, who form part of a...

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Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

The Big Trouble In Small Loans

Rafael Llosa’s company has been lending money to some of the poorest people in Peru for 30 years. It used to be a fairly lonely endeavor. Giving tiny loans to impoverished women to make ceramics or to farmers to buy milk cows was hardly seen as a great business. Except that it was. In 1998 the organization Llosa runs, now called Mibanco, converted from a nonprofit into a bank, demonstrating what other microfinance institutions around the world knew too: that the poor ar...

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Time Magazine (link opens in a new window)

Commencement Address by Muhammad Yunus

Below is the prepared text of the Commencement address by Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, for MIT’s 142nd Commencement held June 6, 2008. Good Morning: It as a very special privilege for me to speak at the commencement ceremony of this prestigious institution. What a wonderful feeling to be here today. To be with all of you, some of the brightest minds in t...

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MIT News (link opens in a new window)

Citibank offers $10m credit facility to ASA

Citibank, NA Bangladesh and ASA yesterday signed a credit facility agreement for microfinance portfolio expansion in rural Bangladesh, says a press release. As per the agreement, Citibank will provide US$ 10 million in equivalent local currency to ASA, one of the world’s leading Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). Md Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, founder and president of ASA, and Mamun Rashid, managing director and Citi country officer, Bangladesh, signed the agreement on...

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The Daily Star (link opens in a new window)

MIT Legatum Center Announces Inaugural class of Legatum Fellows

The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT announced May 20 that it has selected its first class of Legatum Fellows for the 2008-2009 academic year. The Legatum Fellowships bring extraordinary men and women to MIT to pursue enterprise solutions to some of the most difficult challenges facing low-income countries, noted Iqbal Z. Quadir, director of the center. By empowering entrepreneurs, the business plans created by Legatum Fellows will serve to ...

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MIT Press Office (link opens in a new window)

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clean cooking

Understanding Social Enterprise: Theory And Practice

This introductory article attempts to answer questions for: 1. Those in the private sector wondering if social enterprises are a threat or an opportunity for them (and how they might alter their own practice to remain competitive). 2. Those in the voluntary sector trying to work out their medium/long-term future (whether they should engage or resist the notion of social enterprise). 3. Those in the public sector being asked to develop, support or commission...

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Article Dashboard (link opens in a new window)

Indian Bank is Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank’

An Indian bank has won the ’Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year Award 2008’ for Asia in the honours constituted by The Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group.??? ? YES bank won the award given in recognition to excellence in creating environmental, social and financial value in its operations in India.??? ? As a Public Trust Institution, the (YES) bank takes responsibility for augmenting sust...

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Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

Financial Times Awards E+Co Sustainable Investor of the Year

Bloomfield, NJ - E+Co, a non-profit investment company that tackles climate change and poverty by investing in clean energy businesses in Africa, Asia and Latin America, has been officially awarded as the Financial Times’ prestigious Sustainable Investor of the Year. The Sustainable Investor of the Year award highlights groundbreaking achievement in the area of sustainable investment, recognizing programs with outstanding triple bottom-line impact. You hear talk about bout...

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E+Co (link opens in a new window)