Grameen Foundation and ThoughtWorks Partner on Microfinance Tech Platform

Thursday, July 29, 2010

WASHINGTON and CHICAGO, July 27 /PRNewswire/ — ThoughtWorks, Inc., (www.thoughtworks.com) the global leader in Agile methods of software development, today announced a global initiative to provide software engineering services for Grameen Foundation’s Mifos platform.

ThoughtWorks has established a dedicated team to advance the next-generation Mifos technology architecture using the latest open source technologies. The project will extend Mifos’ capabilities to meet the changing demands of the microfinance industry. These efforts represent ThoughtWorks’ commitment to use its technical expertise towards alleviation of world poverty through microfinance.

“We are excited to join hands with Grameen Foundation to expand the outreach of microfinance to the world’s poor,” said Rohit Bansal, head of ThoughtWorks’ Social Impact Program. “We are confident that our passion to create value through technology will be a catalyst for this expansion.”

As a leader in applying Agile and Lean practices to deliver software excellence to customers globally, ThoughtWorks, through this initiative, will bring direct value to microfinance institutions (MFIs) serving the poor. A ThoughtWorks engineering team inIndia, along with a distributed Mifos engineering team and worldwide open source community, will work towards advancement of the Mifos platform to accelerate business efficiencies for MFIs, and thus increase their social impact. ENDA Inter-Arabe, the leading MFI in Tunisia, has benefited from the close collaboration between the ThoughtWorks and Grameen Foundation teams through the expansion of Mifos to include support for individual lending, agricultural loan products and a centralized data warehouse for extensive reporting.

“We have proven that technology can effectively enable MFIs to service the poor; now we have to accelerate the adoption,” saidGeorge Conard, Executive Director of Grameen Foundation’s Technology for Microfinance Initiative. “ThoughtWorks’ technology expertise and innovative approach complements our process for innovation. Their commitment and involvement in the microfinance movement is proving to be a tremendous asset to Grameen Foundation and the industry.”

Source: PR Newswire (link opens in a new window)