You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Alex Counts’ tag.
> Posted by Center Staff
Alex Counts meets two Haitian entrepreneurs.
Just what qualities make someone a “Madame Sara”?
The answer to that question lies in Grameen Foundation CEO Alex Counts’ ongoing blogging for his upcoming book about Fonkoze. As Counts travels Haiti, conversing with the country’s microfinance industry leaders in general and Fonkoze’s pioneers in particular, he often finds insights – and vocabulary – that might surprise outsiders.
Counts, who was interviewed for our “Microfinance Matters” series, joined with other friends of Grameen Bank to set up Grameen Foundation in 1997.
His recent post “Fonkoze and Madame Saras” analyzes how Fonkoze is attempting to turn post-earthquake conditions into opportunities for people determined to rebuild their lives:
Last fall I heard for the first time a term for a new type of Fonkoze client that almost made me giggle – “Madam Saras”. It turned out to be Fonkoze at its opportunistic best – responding in an entrepreneurial way to three developments:
- its excess liquidity (i.e., more savings deposits, on which it pays a nominal rate of interest, than it has in microloans outstanding),
- the problems its poor women vendor clients were having getting merchandise because the wholesalers they bought from were not able to import enough after the earthquake, and
- many of the wholesalers were savvy businesswomen (known in Haiti as “Madam Saras” which refers to birds that make a lot of noise and always move in flocks) who had lost inventory in the earthquake and had their credit lines reduced or cancelled by the mainstream banks. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
Iliamene Joseph Madam Jean Marc (left) and Linda Boucard.
Grameen Foundation CEO Alex Counts’ book on Fonkoze continues to take shape. He is blogging his journey through Haiti’s landscape, taking notes on the thoughts and memories of many leaders of the country’s microfinance industry.
Counts, whose work is outlined in an interview for our “Microfinance Matters” series, worked with other Grameen Bank allies to set up Grameen Foundation in 1997.
His most recent post, “An Avalanche of Material (Including Repressed Memories),” finds him talking to more leaders:
I have learned so much about Fonkoze‘s journey over the last three days that I hardly know where to start with this blog.
On Wednesday, I returned to Marigot and re-interviewed Iliamene with the assistance of Linda Boucard (who continued the interview while I had to take a call about my “day job” with Grameen Foundation that I formally remain on sabbatical from until August 1). I learned a lot more about her toughness, her humble origins, and shuffling between households in Marigot and Port-au-Prince before settling into a productive life as a wife, mother, community leader and entrepreneur. (She became even more productive after joining Fonkoze.) But due to a series of miscommunications, we had less time with her than we otherwise could have. Thankfully, Linda agreed to return in the weeks ahead to go deeper, since her story has real depth and complements Mariyn Bayonet’s tale well.
Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
Fonkoze’s founder, Father Joseph Philippe.
Grameen Foundation CEO Alex Counts is writing a book about Fonkoze. In the process, he’s been blogging his way across Haiti’s landscape, speaking with some of the leading lights of the country’s microfinance industry.
Counts, who we interviewed for our “Microfinance Matters” series, joined other friends of Grameen Bank to establish Grameen Foundation in 1997.
His most recent post, “Ten Memories,” finds him mulling highlights of what he’s learned and observed, and interviewing the founder of Fonkoze, Father Joseph Philippe:
As I wrap up my first trip (of two) to Haiti this summer (and my fifth since 2006), and deal with information overload, I thought it would be good to boil down my experience to ten reflections, and then close with a two minute video of Father Joseph that builds on two of them.
1. My early – and, as it turned out, too hopeful — observation in this blog that the post-earthquake rebuilding in Port au Prince was going on better than portrayed in the media seems naive now that I have spent more time in the capital. While there are tiny pockets of rubble clearing and even rebuilding, for the most part one still sees collapsed buildings, big piles of rubble, and little if any effort to address these issues. (One wonders whether that will be the case in even five or ten years!) Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
Alex Counts, president and CEO of Grameen Foundation, speaks with community members in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
We’re excited to learn that Grameen Foundation CEO Alex Counts is writing a book about Fonkoze, the leading microfinance institution in Haiti.
Counts, who we interviewed for our “Microfinance Matters” series, joined other friends of Grameen Bank to establish Grameen Foundation in 1997.
Counts is taking readers to the core of his writing process through a blog that tracks his research and observations. He describes what he’s uncovering as a story of “resilience, solidarity and triumph.”
Today’s post, “Re-discovering Fonkoze — An Organization on the Move … And, Emerging Themes,” finds him recounting his first hours on the ground:
I am not new to Fonkoze, but even so, during my first 26 hours in the country I learned a lot. Part of this is because it is impossible to understand everything about a complex institution, and also because things are always in flux at this most entrepreneurial of organizations.
Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
Alex Counts, president and CEO of Grameen Foundation, speaks with community members in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
Why do so many capable people put their lives into building the microfinance industry? What do they hope to accomplish? What motivates them? Why do they think microfinance is a solution? Are they pleased with the results?
The Center for Financial Inclusion is interviewing founders, pioneers, and entrepreneurs in order to answer these questions and capture the scale and impact of microfinance in today’s world.
During 2011, we’ll bring you a score of such ‘Microfinance Matters’ interviews from leaders around the globe. These authentic voices will speak about what is most meaningful to them in their work.
Today, we talk with a leader in the international dissemination of the Grameen model…
Alex Counts
Reaching Out to the Poorest
In the spring of 1987, Alex Counts, a student at Cornell University, wrote to Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, and expressed his interest in working with one of the world’s first microfinance institutions.
“God bless him, he wrote me back,” says Counts. That was the beginning of a career in microfinance that led Counts and other friends of Grameen Bank to the 1997 founding of Grameen Foundation, an independent organization that collaborates with microfinance organizations around the world to deepen services provided to the poorest and more remote communities…
To read more of the interview with Alex Counts, click here.
Facebook
Twitter
Recent Comments