Harvard Business Review

MAY 18, 2016

Not many would associate innovation with large, service-oriented nonprofits with decades of history. In 2013, Habitat used its frontline calculations to create a new strategic plan aimed at materially affecting the housing deficit through a combination of advocacy and market development.

Microfinance 14

Microfinance Strategic Planning Finance Globalization 14

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

Opportunities and markets are global. Entrepreneurs don't need to help America beat China or Brazil in addressing the needs of customers and markets. Encourage financial entrepreneurship and innovation. We don't innovate in entrepreneurial finance enough in the U.S.: This is not a contradiction.

Venture Capitalist 16

Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Microfinance Finance 16

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 11, 2013

When presented with a surprising idea, smart organizations will bravely listen, because what comes next might just be game-changing innovation. Six years ago, David and Donna Allman approached Opportunity with an idea that fell outside our traditional microfinance model: to build a Community Economic Development (CED) program in Nicaragua.

Microfinance 9

Microfinance Rogers Tourism Engineering 9

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 21, 2013

This innovation has impact. When an organization has evidence that its innovation and model produce substantial social impact, its leaders face a dilemma: do we grow our organization continuing to provide our service directly or do we expand our impact by helping other organizations adopt the model? Conclusion?

Venture Capitalist 13

Venture Capitalist Mentor Microfinance NGO 13

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Bank marketing materials focus on the dreams, anxieties and goals of consumers. Financial institutions must find innovative ways to understand their consumers' aspirations and actual behavior. Interdependencies: Insufficient understanding of interactions remains a critical issue in financial innovation.

Banking 14

Banking Pharmaceuticals Microfinance Risk Management 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 2, 2014

Or consider Kwabena Darko of Ghana, who helped found that country’s microfinance sector by forging a collaboration between global NGO Opportunity International , his national startup Sinapi Aba , and a myriad of village- and town-based trust groups. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. .

Entrepreneur 15

Entrepreneur Microfinance NGO Mission Statement 15

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

Fatigue may be setting in for some Western investors’ interest in African innovation, particularly those that have yet to reap rewards to brag about. Innovation in Distribution. We recently interviewed 100 entrepreneurs to find out which ventures are most likely to thrive. Top of the Pyramid.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance Hotels Entrepreneur Incubator 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 5, 2016

While meeting this challenge is a clear priority for policy makers and donors, it is also a major profit opportunity for commercial players who can solve market failures and create real value. Micro-insurance is not at scale anywhere except when heavily subsidized by government, a market we hope technology may change in the future.

Microfinance 15

Microfinance Insurance Banking Bottom-up 15

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

And we are often happy to review these start-up plans — which include the typical elements such as a product description, competitive analysis, estimate of market size, and projected financials. Here are our four rules we use to evaluate the underlying business concept: Innovation. Has it been tried this way before? Importance.

Entrepreneur 14

Entrepreneur Planning Taylorism Taylor 14