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An Interview With Muhammad Yunus: The Godfather of Microcredit Shares His Views – And Concerns – About the Sector
Though he’s a tireless promoter of microcredit’s potential to help the poor, Muhammad Yunus hasn’t been shy in voicing his criticisms of its embrace of commercialism. In a video Q&A with NextBillion Financial Innovation – the first in a series of conversations with microfinance thought leaders – Yunus discusses his concerns about the industry’s direction, and points to ways it could improve.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Foreign investors chasing bigger gains by investing in Indian microfinance institutions
Instead of raising their holdings in companies such as HDFC Bank and IDFC, the infrastructure lender which is turning into a bank, investors are chasing India's profitable microfinance institutions.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance
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Vittana to “cease to exist as a standalone organization”: The education-focused P2P microlender will wind down in its current form, its CEO says
“One of our founding beliefs was that once we reached scale, we could do our work sustainably, without shifting costs and risk onto the students,” wrote CEO Robin Wolander in announcing Vittana’s wind-down. “But after five years ... we haven’t found a robust business model to wean ourselves off that support.”
- Categories
- Education
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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The Eternal Struggle of Microfinance: The Microcredit Summit raised questions about the sector’s future – but does anyone have an answer?
As last week’s Microcredit Summit wrapped up in Mexico, the topics of over-indebtedness and high interest rates reared their ugly heads. The final day served up a riveting debate that pitted a representative of a Mexican microfinance network against one of the sector’s most vocal critics. The questions raised were crucial to the future of microfinance - but the answers remain elusive.
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- Impact Assessment
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Next generation of microfinance: Leveraging Indonesian experience
The history of microfinance institutions in Indonesia dates back more than 100 years.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Mexico summit pledges to serve microfinance clients better
The 17th Microcredit Summit held in Merida, Mexico, last week discussed ways to better serve the next generation of clients and promote client-centred microfinance.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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Weekly Roundup 9/5/14 – Recharging Batteries: It’s good to go to conferences, even for editors
There’s a reason groups go to such lengths to organize conferences, and people from all over the world attend them: They’re a great place to recharge batteries and recalibrate goals. It works for editors, too.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- microfinance
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Voices from the Summit: Eight quotes from prominent speakers on Day 2 of this week’s Microcredit Summit
By Day 2 of this week’s Microcredit Summit, we’d interviewed eight leaders and innovators in microfinance – from trenchant critics to the sector’s elder statesman, Muhammad Yunus. We’ve compiled eight quotes – one from each interview – which give a sample of some of the topics under discussion at the conference.
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- Uncategorized
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