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

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

By Cali Haan

The Senior Vice President in charge of Platforms & Blockchain at IBM, Bridget van Kralingen, gave an inspiring talk in mid-May at the giant Consensus cryptocurrency and blockchain conference in New York.

She said she’d long held a dream making micro-finance more available in the developing world.

“Forty percent of the world’s population is unbanked,” she said. “The fastest way to get them out of poverty is to help them start a business.”

Kralingen said she’d worked on microfinance projects in the past, but administrative costs were too high, and the projects failed.

Now IBM is back supporting a microfinance project using a Hyperledger blockchain to help administer small loans at low interest to food sellers in Kenya.

Photo courtesy of Simone D. McCourtie.