You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2011.
> Posted by Sergio Guzmán
Cash, too, can be a burden.
Having access to multiple channels to make payments makes it easier for consumers to use their money without having to carry cash.
However, what happens when small and medium-sized businesses face what they consider to be high transaction fees when their customers want to make small purchases with plastic?
As a recent Huffington Post article by Zach Carter and Ryan Grim observes, some merchants and service providers are discouraged from using these channels to allow consumers to move their money swiftly.
Are these transaction fees, in that sense, a barrier to the development of a cashless society? And what might that mean for the drive for financial inclusion?
Image credit: Bisanz
> Posted by Michelle Romeu
This week’s report from the blogosphere spans National Financial Literacy Month, behavioral economics, the Grameen Bank investigation, and more. Read on for this week’s Top Picks:
- The Institute for Financial Management and Research‘s India Development blog offers an insightful post about understanding microfinance from a loan officer’s perspective. Indian loan officers shared thoughts and experiences ranging from a typical day on the job to the importance of professional training.
- The MasterCard Foundation blog highlights the opening of the first bank branch in Kabudula, a rural town in Malawi. The branch—an Opportunity International Bank of Malawi kiosk—is one of many in an initiative to deliver new low-cost outlets for financial services in sub-Saharan Africa. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Adriana Magdas
The Social Performance Task Force defines social performance, or the social bottom line, as the entire process of making an organization’s social mission a reality. This may include serving larger number of poor and excluded people; improving the quality and appropriateness of financial services; creating benefits for clients; and improving the social responsibility of microfinance institutions. Managers for social investments and microfinance funds must actively assess the social performance of their client institutions to determine the extent to which social goals are met and measure the benefits for clients of microfinance and their communities.
In 2010 Oikocredit, a large financier of microcredit which seeks to offer both financial and social returns to its investors, appointed social performance management specialists at all of its regional offices to assist project partners with social performance development and management.
Oikocredit routinely collects information from partner institutions using tools developed to monitor the social impact of investments. These tools incorporate the Social Performance Indicators, which assess the social performance of an institution by analyzing its intentions and actions, and the ESG (environment, social, governance) scorecard developed to reflect Oikocredit’s core selection criteria and vigorous environmental and governance criteria. It is important to note that a considerable component of the ESG scorecard is the Smart Campaign’s Client Protection Principles, which promote transparency, fair practices, and quality services. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
2009 HBS-ACCION Program on Strategic Leadership in Microfinance
The Harvard Business School-ACCION Program on Strategic Leadership for Microfinance began this week. This is the program’s sixth year of offering industry leaders the opportunity to connect with peers while engaging with some of the Harvard Business School faculty’s foremost thinkers in business strategy and management.
ACCION President and CEO Michael Schlein welcomed participants to this year’s April 25-30 program with these remarks:
Ladies and gentlemen, a very good evening to you all. I’m Michael Schlein, president and CEO of ACCION, and it’s a privilege to welcome all of you here tonight to the Harvard Business School-ACCION Program on Strategic Leadership for Microfinance.
Allow me to extend my warmest welcome, and my thanks, to the more than 60 new students who are with us this week, representing no fewer than 31 different countries.
Believe it or not, this is the sixth consecutive year that HBS and ACCION have been conducting this groundbreaking course. By the conclusion of this week’s class, nearly 400 participants from over 75 different countries will have participated in the training.
A list of graduates of this course would read like a veritable “Who’s Who” of the industry. By my count, more than 158 organizations have sent executives. No fewer than 75 of the participants have been the CEOs of those institutions. So, you are among very good company indeed. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
The world is witnessing a rebound in Web-facilitated, peer-to-peer microlending. That creates some interesting mirrors in which developing-world microfinance can reflect.
Slate‘s Farhad Manjoo mulls how peer-to-peer lending pioneer Prosper.com has overcome a rough patch and “has … seen the public becoming more interested in lending and borrowing through the site; lending activity is rising, and so far, borrowers are paying back their loans at a rate that keeps lenders coming back.”
Prosper (whose CEO and founder, Chris Larsen, sits on CFI’s Advisory Council) may mean different things to different people. But progress for peer-to-peer lending sites of this kind, which Manjoo tags as a sort of “eBay for credit,” at a minimum seems to be evidence for:
- a potentially reinvigorated intersection of technology and microlending
- an industry with a capacity to come through growing pains with lessons learned and a promising horizon
All of which means what for financial inclusion? It’s too early to say, but we want to keep our finger on that pulse.
Image credit: Tango! Desktop Project
> Posted By Center Staff
- Couple at store in Nepal.
In order to reach full financial inclusion, the financial services industry must address the needs of the world’s disabled poor. A great human rights struggle is starting to penetrate the world of low-income finance.
Against that backdrop, the CFI’s program on Financial Inclusion for Persons with Disabilities has launched a new page on the Center’s website.
Check it out to learn the who, what, and why of the program, as well as other details.
You can also download program publications and learn more about the genesis of the effort.
Image Credit: Handicap International
> Posted by Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon, Sustainability Affairs and Microfinance Officer, Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative, Credit Suisse
“Microfinance Advocates.” What started off in 2009 as a handful of Credit Suisse employees interested in microfinance has grown into a global network 500 strong. They receive regular microfinance news clippings, event invitations, and volunteering opportunities – but have recently been demanding a more active role in the space. They want to contribute, to get involved.
In response to this growing interest, the concept of Virtual Volunteering was born. Since microfinance is not an area that matches traditional concepts of volunteering, a different approach was needed. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
National and international media outlets highlighted the Cuba Study Group‘s April 7 release of a white paper in collaboration with Americas Society/Council of the Americas and the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International.
The white paper, “Supporting Small Business in Cuba: Recommendations for Private and Public Sector Leaders,” was released just before the Communist Party of Cuba’s sixth congress.
The paper outlines specific steps the Cuban government, the US government and private sector, NGO and foundation leaders can take to support micro and small businesses in Cuba.
Media coverage in English extended to several articles:
“Experts Seek to Help Cuban Entrepreneurs” – AP, Laura Wides-Muñoz, 7/4/2011
> Posted by Mary Dakim, Intern, Financial Inclusion for Persons with Disabilities Program
Mary Dakim
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): 147 countries have signed it; 99 countries have ratified it; how many countries have implemented it?
I recently reviewed a study by the European Foundation Centre that analyzed how the European Union and its member states are implementing the UN CRPD. The report identifies challenges of full and effective implementation and aims to support the EU Disability Action Plan. Operationalizing a convention is clearly no easy task.
As a teacher, I understand how difficult it is to change behavior and to foster a link between an idea and action. During my internship at the Center of Financial Inclusion, I have also learned how much microfinance organizations are already being asked to do—a lot, and from all directions, from donors, investors, regulators, and governments, just to name a few.
The manager of the Financial Inclusion for Persons with Disabilities Program pointed out that profit margins are already thin, that microfinance markets are growing saturated and more competitive, and that MFI leaders are being asked to do a lot beyond honoring their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.
> Posted by Center Staff
The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) with support from USAID/Philippines and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines (MCPI) jointly held a pre-summit seminar on April 4 discussing “How to Avoid an India-type Microfinance Crisis in the Philippines.”
The seminar served as a prologue to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s National Microfinance Stakeholders Summit held on April 5.
Led by CFI Managing Director Beth Rhyne and organized for the microfinance stakeholders in the Philippines, particularly rural banks, NGOs, credit cooperatives and others, the seminar mapped out some of the issues that led to the microfinance crisis in India.
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