Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 1, 2011

Microfinance has come under fire in the past 18 months, triggered in part by SKS Microfinance's IPO. Critics complain that the institutions supporting microfinance have become too greedy, and many are using this as an argument to deeply regulate or, even more, cut support to microfinance operations. I hope not.

Microfinance 15

Microfinance IPO Bottom-up Finance 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 22, 2011

The microfinance industry has in just a few years gone from making headlines for the Nobel Peace Prize to stories about limited impact, allegedly abusive tactics, client suicides, government crackdowns, major lenders struggling with insolvency and the forcible removal of Mohammed Yunus as Managing Director of Grameen Bank.

Microfinance 16

Microfinance Entrepreneur Crisis Short-term 16

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 14

Microfinance Insurance Banking Bottom-up 14

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Career paths are not one-size-fits-all, yet in emerging markets, it's often assumed that microfinance — the use of small loans to foster self-reliant small businesses in a community setting — is the only path for women seeking economic opportunity. Microfinance was one issue that we considered.

Microfinance 11

Microfinance Flextime Globalization Telecommunications 11

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 8, 2018

Impact investors over the past decade largely focused on proving that impact investments could achieve a “market rate” or above return profile. Making something wildly profitable will of course attract the attention of financial markets, and thus increase the chances it will scale effectively. Lessons from Microfinance.

Microfinance 9

Microfinance IPO Real Estate Industry 9

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 13, 2012

cents for a sachet that could purify 10 liters, Pur achieved penetration rates of 5% to 10% in its test markets — strong by almost any yardstick — but in 2005 the company gave up on Pur as a business, because the numbers simply hadn't worked. The microfinance industry is a rare D and E success story.

Microfinance 17

Microfinance Prahalad Bottom-up Banking 17

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 4, 2012

The White House has called this gap between the demand and supply of finance for small and medium enterprises a "market failure.[and] Some microfinance organizations are also moving out of the purely micro and toward larger lending. and] a serious constraint on efforts to promote strong and sustainable global recovery.".

Entrepreneur 17

Entrepreneur Globalization Microfinance Finance 17

Harvard Business Review

MAY 18, 2016

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. A critical part was adapting a proven model in a related field: microfinance. Habitat has thereby transformed the nature and scale of its impact.

Microfinance 13

Microfinance Strategic Planning Finance Globalization 13

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2012

A hybrid approach is exemplified by startup Frogtek, which develops software for local shopkeepers in emerging markets to more efficiently track their inventory, leading to better purchasing decisions and greater profits. Hybrids thus risk mission drift, as they may over time start targeting wealthier and more profitable market segments.

Entrepreneur 18

Entrepreneur Microfinance Market Segmentation Incubator 18

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 11, 2013

It is unthinkable, for instance, to imagine a social entrepreneur treating research on the health effects of tobacco use the way the tobacco industry, market analysts, and investors did in the 1960s and '70s. They can be more analytical. Prahalad's " bottom of the pyramid ," that began life as academic research.

Entrepreneur 13

Entrepreneur Microfinance Supply Chain Prahalad 13

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

We serve two markets that are very different but united by the common need for reliable, safe access to energy: outdoor recreationalists and low-income households in emerging markets. We found an ideal storefront near a busy market in central Bhubaneswar. Experiment #5: Microfinance Institutions.

Marketing 8

Marketing Microfinance Retail Development 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 20, 2012

However, as I discussed in my last post , the model has a fatal flaw: It inevitably requires an impractical penetration rate of the target market — often 30% or more of all consumers in an area. Any business that starts off needing a 30% or higher penetration rate is built on a shaky foundation.

Bottom-up 14

Bottom-up Microfinance Price Banking 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 11, 2013

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. We know that microfinance alone will not break the poverty cycle.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance Rogers Tourism Engineering 8

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. Microfinance (Bangladesh), securitization of revenues (Saudi Arabia), and royalty-pay-back funding (Israel) were all invented overseas. This is not a contradiction.

Venture Capitalist 16

Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Microfinance Finance 16

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. Amplify the voices of the constituents you seek to serve.

Entrepreneur 15

Entrepreneur Microfinance NGO Mission Statement 15

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 21, 2014

Addressing the agriculture value chain—soil testing, facilitation of inputs and credit, market linkage, and field advisory services—is part and parcel of agriculture development initiatives. Over 1,900 beneficiaries have established micro-enterprises for which microfinance has been facilitated.

Innovation 12

Innovation Microfinance Parcell Technology 12

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 17, 2014

An estimated 250 funds are actively raising capital in a market that the Global Impact Investing Network estimates at $25 billion. We allowed microfinance and the venture capital industry the time and space to develop over a few decades. Impact investing has captured the world’s imagination. Social enterprise Venture capital'

Development 11

Development Microfinance Biotechnology Exit Strategy 11

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Bank marketing materials focus on the dreams, anxieties and goals of consumers. Popular games also tend to spawn communities who share information and strategies about how to overcome hurdles, suggesting that peer to peer education is also possible (this has been seen in microfinance).

Banking 13

Banking Pharmaceuticals Microfinance Risk Management 13

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 21, 2013

Many in the nonprofit world call this technical assistance or training, while for-profit entrepreneurs might see it as business development, partnerships or even affiliate marketing. The organization recognizes that its impact could be greater than the size of its loan portfolio or its direct footprint; it could build a new lending market.

Venture Capitalist 12

Venture Capitalist Mentor Microfinance NGO 12

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 4, 2013

This makes sense to Milaap.org , a social enterprise in Bangalore that crowdsources low-cost capital for microfinance institutions through its online platform. Similarly, Twitter followers are more numerous when the venture is active on Facebook and LinkedIn. Nor do we see advantages for entrepreneurs with deep experience or advanced degrees.

Entrepreneur 10

Entrepreneur Microfinance Media Follow-up 10

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 22, 2015

” Microfinance and other market-based interventions don’t generally reach them. Unfortunately, these trends still have little to no impact on the lives of a critical and chronically marginalized subset of the extreme poor around the world, those living on less than 60 to 70 cents per day.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance BHAG NGO Participative 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

Firms are realizing what microfinance has known for a while: Local self-policing groups, or village headmen who police honor codes, can hedge cash flows in far-flung places. Toyota and Yamaha have found motorbike customers through such social group structures.

Microfinance 8

Microfinance Hotels Entrepreneur Incubator 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 9, 2011

Second, the marketing pitch for focusing on women and girls increasingly is stereotyping men in the effort to combat the stereotyping of women. The Indian study, one of the few high quality studies of microcredit extended to women, found no increase in household spending on clothing, food, or education.

Microfinance 16

Microfinance Long-term Globalization Class 16

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 28, 2016

According to the Global Impact Investing Network, the market for impact capital, currently sized at $60 billion, could grow over the next decade to $2 trillion, or 1% of global invested assets. Everyone agrees that impact investing is on the rise. Intensity and immediacy of impact.

Class 8

Class Microfinance Education Supply Chain 8

CO2

JUNE 4, 2012

Over time, she learns that “solutions to poverty must be driven by discipline, accountability, and market strength, not easy sentimentality.” My solution was to found a microfinance organization that puts women in a position to create their own destinies and achieve their full potential. I too am learning this lesson. May 2012. ###.

Microfinance 121

Microfinance Travel Open-book Education 121

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. The kids develop discipline and focus, but also practical, marketable skills. Importance.

Entrepreneur 14

Entrepreneur Planning Taylor Taylorism 14