Financializing Poverty


Book Description

Introduction : enfolding the poor -- Entrepreneurship and work at the "bottom of the pyramid"--Social banking to financial inclusion -- The reluctant moneylender -- The domestication of microfinance -- Financial risk and the moral economy of credit -- Insured death, precarious life




Microfinance Handbook


Book Description

The purpose of the 'Microfinance Handbook' is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions.




Making Microfinance Work


Book Description

Microfinance has long been recognized as having significant potential to create jobs and reduce poverty. But to meet the twin challenges of growth and sustainability, managers of microfinance institutions (MFIs) must not only understand essential management functions: they must also be armed with innovative ideas and strategies to succeed in today's increasingly competitive environment. This book provides a valuable overview of the key management principles necessary to optimize the services of MFIs.Volume 1 examines the markets and marketing of MFIs and captures the different ways that managers can communicate the value of their products and services. It offers strategies to prevent risk from occurring and, if it does occur, explains how to rectify the situation. Practical techniques for allocating costs and determining prices are also highlighted, as well as the importance of plans, budgets and reports. Volume 2 includes chapters on various product options, including savings, insurance, leasing, money transfers, and even grants and nonfinancial services. It also explores how to combine different product menus to serve specific market segments, such as the ultra-poor, youth, women, and small and medium enterprises. It provides specific suggestions to manage diversification, including adapting the institutional culture, redistributing responsibilities, empowering staff, communicating with clients, reengineering systems, and managing change.




Microfinance and Poverty Reduction


Book Description

The book emphasizes the importance of studying the local context, and then considering the macroeconomic factors which may be operating upon the economy of a particular country. Five extended case studies, in the Gambia, Ecuador, Mexico, Pakistan, and the UK are examined with reference to further aspects of sustainability and impact assessment.




Microfinance and Poverty


Book Description




Small Money Big Impact


Book Description

Make your money make a difference—and enjoy attractive returns Small Money, Big Impact explores and explains the globally growing importance of impact investing. Today, the investor's perspective has become as important as the actual social impact. Based on their experience with over 25 million micro borrowers, the authors delve into the mechanics, considerations, data and strategies that make microloans and impact investing an attractive asset class. From the World Bank to the individual investor, impact investing is attracting more and more attention. Impact investing is a global megatrend and is reshaping the way people invest as pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, family offices and private investors jump on board. This book explains for the first time how it works, why it works and what you should know if you're ready to help change the world. Impact investing has proven over the last 20 years as the first-line offense against crushing poverty. Over two billion people still lack access to basic financial services, which are essential for improving their livelihood. Investors have experienced not only social and environmental impact, but have received attractive, stable and uncorrelated returns for over 15 years. This guide provides the latest insights and methodologies that help you reap the rewards of investing in humanity. Explore the global impact investing phenomenon Learn how microloans work, and how they make a difference Discover why investors are increasingly leaning into impact investing Consider the factors that inform impact investing decisions Part social movement and part financial strategy, impact investing offers the unique opportunity for investors to power tremendous change with a small amount of money— expanding their portfolios as they expand their own global impact. Microfinance allows investors at any level to step in where banks refuse to tread, offering opportunity to those who need it most. Small Money, Big Impact provides the expert guidance you need to optimize the impact on your portfolio and the world.




Microfinance and Poverty Alleviation


Book Description

Despite the considerable economic growth of the Asia-Pacific, poverty continues to be a major problem. One key way to create sustainable livelihoods and to provide poor households an escape route from poverty is microfinance. Since the early 1980s, microfinance practitioners have proven that the poor are creditworthy, capable of utilizing scarce capital efficiently in viable incom-generating projects and able to pay back their loans. This book collects the experience of microfinance practitioners in 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region to describe the present state of the art. It is designed to provide an overview of the subject: why it is so essential to poverty reduction; what is the best practice; what kind of policy framework and regulatory environment is required. It offers both an extensive survey of the academic literature and a selection of case studies, all from authors who have been active practitioners in microfinance for many years. The case studies cover four key countries in South Asia and three countries in East Asia in which microfinance had become particularly important. There is also a regional chapter covering the Pacific islands.




Managing Risk and Creating Value with Microfinance


Book Description

This book provides guidelines and technical recommendations on microfinance based on expert presentations and cases from around the world.




Due Diligence


Book Description

The idea that small loans can help poor families build businesses and exit poverty has blossomed into a global movement. The concept has captured the public imagination, drawn in billions of dollars, reached millions of customers, and garnered a Nobel Prize. Radical in its suggestion that the poor are creditworthy and conservative in its insistence on individual accountability, the idea has expanded beyond credit into savings, insurance, and money transfers, earning the name microfinance. But is it the boon so many think it is? Readers of David Roodman's openbook blog will immediately recognize his thorough, straightforward, and trenchant analysis. Due Diligence, written entirely in public with input from readers, probes the truth about microfinance to guide governments, foundations, investors, and private citizens who support financial services for poor people. In particular, it explains the need to deemphasize microcredit in favor of other financial services for the poor.