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Reflections On Microfinance: Past, Present and Future
Microfinance institutions depended on very low default rates coupled with rapid growth to provide adequate investor returns. Aligning loan officer incentives with repayment rates and customer service may have helped microfinance institutions become more customer centric.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Tags
- microfinance
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Roundup – 3/3/12: Profiting Off the Poor, the Ends vs. the Means
So this week’s batch of articles primarily has focused on the growth of mobile money, be it in banking or in the form of an e-wallet. It also settled a key debate around profiting off the poor, at least between Vikram Akula, then the founder and CEO of SKS Microfinance, and Grameen Bank Founder Muhammad Yunus.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- microfinance
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Responsible lending key to microfinance
Mumbai: Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are still struggling for recovery after a crisis triggered by an Andhra Pradesh law in October 2010 that reined in MFIs, which lend small sums of money to poor borrowers; the state is India’s biggest market for such loans. The MFI sector was the subject of a Mint Clarity Through Debate event in Mumbai last week. Responsible lending is is key for the sector’s revival, according to the participants. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor K.C. Chakrabarty; director of the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning Usha Thorat; Basix group chairman Vijay Mahajan; chairman and managing director of Small Industries Development Bank of India Sushil Muhnot; International Finance Corporation’s regional manager, financial markets and private equity, Manoj Prashar; and Bandhan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd chairman Chandra Shekhar Ghosh were the panellists in the discussion. Mint’s deputy managing editor Tamal Bandyopadhyay moderated the discussion. Edited excerpts:
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance
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Former Chairman of SKS Microfinance Akula Shares Lessons Learned
Vikram Akula, the former Chairman of SKS Microfinance, broke his silence today about the mistakes he made in his social venture, in a speech at the Social Enterprise Conference at Harvard. Akula acknowledged the legitimacy of the criticism he had received from Mohammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor and Founder of Grameen Bank, who had long taken issue with SKS’s deployment of private capital in microfinance and its profit orientation.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- microfinance
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Commercial MFIs Can Make Markets Work for the Poor
Commercial microfinance institutions (MFIs) are an exemplification of making markets work for the poor. Are they indeed? A recent piece of research, comparing the lending performance of for-profit MFIs with not-for-profit MFIs, shows that though for-profit MFIs serve close to three-quarters of the market, the evidence does not seem to indicate that these MFIs lend indiscriminately when compared to their peers.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Accion MFB Considers Customers’ Plight, Out With Low Interest Products
Accion Micro Finance Bank has come out with cheaper and low interest rate products to meet the needs of its customers.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Microfinance Project Helping Low Income Group In Singapore
An innovative MicroCredit Business Scheme (MCBS) has been launched in Singapore to help people from low-income backgrounds create a sustainable income by establishing or expanding their small businesses. The project is a pioneering initiative in Singapore that is being implement as a collaboration between POSBank (POSB), Tote Board, and the Social Enterprise Hub.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Akhuwat: Making Microfinance Work
A groundbreaking microfinance model is bringing out the best in society and bucking the trend of giving out loans that could realistically never be paid back.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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