By: Alex Counts

Alex Counts — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:21:10 +0000

As usual, Beth Rhyne hits the nail on the head with straightforward analysis of a critical issue in plain language. The CFI is indeed well positioned to provide leadership on this through its financial access at birth campaign. I agree that there is some risk that the opportunity to provide credit and savings together may be lost. At Grameen Foundatio, we have been promoting the lessons of “Grameen II” which were captured in the impressive book “The Poor Always Pay Back” by Asif Dowla and Dipal Barua, about how Grameen Bank transformed itself into a savings-led institution that still makes hundreds of millions of dollars in micro-loans every year to its 8 million clients across Bangladesh. We also believe that Fonkoze in Haiti has done some impressive work in attracting 40,000 borrowers and 160,000 savers and adding adult education into the mix. Finally, the Gates Foundation has been supporting us and several other networks — Accion too if memory serves — to support credit-led MFIs to develop robust savings programs. We are seeing solid progress with CARD in the Philippines, ACSI in Ethiopia and Cashpor in India. I hope to see more blog posts on micro-savings by CFI leaders. It’s an exciting area for innovation and discussion.

By: Tweets that mention At the Gates Foundation, Savings Is It « -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention At the Gates Foundation, Savings Is It « -- Topsy.com — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:15:07 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by CFI at ACCION, Opportunity Fund, Microfinance USA, Bhagwan Chowdhry, Microfinance Horizon and others. Microfinance Horizon said: RT @AndrewSprung At the Gates Foundation, (micro)savings is it – Beth Rhyne @cfi_accion reports http://bit.ly/ckjqTD #microfinance [...]

Comments on: At the Gates Foundation, Savings Is It

By: Alex Counts

By: Tweets that mention At the Gates Foundation, Savings Is It « -- Topsy.com