Microfinance is a financial service that provides small loans, savings, and insurance to low-income individuals and small businesses who lack access to traditional banking services. The goal of microfinance is to help people lift themselves out of poverty by providing them with the financial tools they need to start or grow a business, improve their

Introduction This guide is for you if you’re looking for a new investment opportunity or are just curious about how microfinance works. In it, we’ll explain how microfinance can benefit everyone involved—from investors and lenders to borrowers. Whether you want to learn more about the benefits of microloans and savings accounts or get started in

Although there are countless heartwarming success stories ranging from micro-entrepreneurs starting their own water supply business in Tanzania, to a $1,500 loan that allowed a family to open a barbecue restaurant in China, to immigrants in the U.S. being able to build their own businesses, microfinance has sometimes fallen under criticism. While microfinance interest rates are

The market for microinsurance in Bangladesh has been growing rapidly over the last 10 years, with over 25 million subscribers. Yet it is still met with skepticism among many poor microfinance clients. As of this January, BRAC, in partnership with Guardian Life Insurance Company, joined the market making its Credit Shield Insurance product available nationwide to

Julia Kurnia is the founder of Zidisha, the first online community to enable direct person-to-person lending to entrepreneurs in developing countries without local intermediary banks. We had our first Q&A with her last year. You can find her on facebook and twitter. What makes a person-to-person lending platform so unique in the microfinance world? Person-to-person lending platforms like Zopa, Prosper and Lending Club have reduced

Let’s make sure one thing is super clear: Seeds is not a charity. We’re not a charity, we’re not a nonprofit, we’re not an NGO. While we think many of those organizations are rad, we don’t belong in those categories. In fact, we don’t even think those categories always apply — we’re moving towards a world where these rigid

In 2014 BRAC launched its microfinance operations in Myanmar – one of the last countries in the world to open up its economy and simultaneously the country with one of the poorest and most unbanked populations. Within three years BRAC has grown to serve over 40,000 women. Read about its journey in a country full

In my last post, I argued that there is a case for social investment in microcredit under the status quo, since delivering microcredit is, on average, so cheap. That discussion presumed evaluating microcredit on the terms that the industry was built on: raising the income, investment and consumption of clients. It’s on those measures that

I believe there’s a strong case for social investment in microcredit, but that the best case is built on new theories of change. Historically the standard microcredit theory of change has been that many (if not most) households are eager to start their own microenterprise but are stymied by a lack of access to credit,