Topic: Microcredit

Microcredit Entrepreneur wins Nobel Peace Prize

A simple business plan based on the concept of microcredit just won Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize. Yunus was awarded the prize today for the bank he founded, the Grameen Bank, which provides average loans ...READ»

Credit For All

For Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, access to credit is a human right. Providing credit to the world’s poor, Yunus believes, clashes with the profit-maximizing goal of conventional ...READ»

Digging Out

The idea of putting people to work was largely neglected after the invasion of Iraq. Now, as debate mounts over troop withdrawals, one strategy might help fill the void.READ»

Shallow Pockets

Continuing the microlending work pioneered by Muhammad Yunus Bangladeshi microlending institution the Grameen Bank, grassroots financiers such as Indonesian Ishak Fatoni indicate that microlending can be macro-profitable. But don't ...READ»

Create A New Category – Build A Profitable Niche

On Wednesday I started an examination of an investment strategy firm that specializes in microfinance, Minlam Asset Management. As I interviewed one of Minlam’s founders, Mike Hokenson, I noticed a reoccurring theme that I see ...READ»

Mercy Corps: The Bank of Banks

CEO: Neal Keny-GuyerREAD»

• Edward Norton's $9,000,000,000 Housing Project (that's $9 Billion)
• A High Point
• Eureka!: Social Enterprises of the Year

Unplanned Obsolescence

Grameen's famous Village Phone Program lifted thousands out of poverty-- and helped Muhammad Yunus win the Nobel Peace Prize. The problem: It's not working anymore.READ»

Moody's and Kiva at CGI: Rating Credit Risks for a Hand in the Future of Micro-lending Banks

While it's a thrill for me to help engage companies in strategic philanthropy, corporate social responsibility (CSR), skilled volunteering, and other forms of giving and service, I've always believed that corporate initiatives are ...READ»

Fruit Stand Lending

Who's that man walking through the street markets of Ecuador, trying to make $50 loans? It's Michael Chu, a former executive of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Co., the world's most powerful leveraged buyout operator.READ»

New Profit

Make money. Change the world. Better yet, says Good Capital, do both.READ»

Filling the Void

Introducing the Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award winners--25 entrepreneurs solving the world's toughest problems with creativity, ingenuity, and passion. Because they can't stand a vacuum.READ»

Class of '07: The The Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award Winners

Organization What It Does Results Grade ACCION International CEO: María Otero www.accion.org Winner's Statement Trains banks around the world to be microfinance partners, making small loans ...READ»

The Change Masters

How do you solve the world's problems? With creativity, passion, and the savvy to turn scarce resources into big impact. Meet the winners of the 2005 Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards.READ»

Here's a Business Plan to Fight Poverty

The social entrepreneur who pioneered 'microlending' has launched a new company. Its goal: a cell-phone in every village.READ»

Seeding Home Soil

When I graduated from my socially conscious liberal arts college, it seemed like every other graduate wanted to go to South America or India and work on micro-enterprise projects with local women. One friend even found a venture ...READ»

Helping Combat Poverty Through Enabling Communication

Earlier this week, the Washington DC based Grameen Foundation unveiled the Village Phone Direct Assistance Center -- a new initiative to continue its ongoing efforts to combat poverty worldwide through enabling and improving access ...READ»

Social Capitalists: Profiles

Accion International Entrepreneurship: A- Innovation: A Social Impact: A+ Aspiration: B+ Sustainability: B+ Boston, Massachusetts Maria Otero, President and CEO www.accion.org "We have taken traditional ...READ»

A Spoon Full Of Sugar Helps Investors Take Their Medicine

Every time my 3-year-old son sees a bottle of children’s Tylenol he asks for “petesina.” That’s his word for medicine or “medecina” in Spanish. Does he have a headache? No. Is he addicted to pain killers? I hope not. But ...READ»

Ethonomics And Microfinance Go Hand In Hand

There has been a lot of positive feedback on my string of blogs themed “financial firms doing good.” It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity that pours out of our televisions and newspapers, but as I travel across the ...READ»

Creating a world without Poverty

  I had the distinct priviledge of attending a recent luncheon hosted by Scotiabank. The special guest presenter was Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Laureate and founder of the world renown, Grameen Bank in ...READ»

Business 3.0

The oblivious capitalist's days are numbered.READ»

The Change Masters

How do you solve the world's problems? With creativity, passion, and the savvy to turn scarce resources into big impact. Meet the winners of the 2005 Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards.READ»

Wealth and Poverty

Muhammed Yunus's share-the-wealth business model.READ»

Laptops for Kids and Shared Village-wide Cell Phones can Fight Systemic Deep Poverty

Negroponte and Quadir: How Laptops and Cell Phones Attack Systemic Poverty in Developing CountriesREAD»

Jack Welch, A Proponent of Conscious Capitalism?

Right now, denizens of young corporate leaders and entrepreneurs who are fighting the good fight –getting investors and their corporate leaders on board with new and more sustainable ways to view business – are perking up at the recent words from former GE Chairman and CEO, Jack Welch. If you have been reading my blog, you have followed my discussions of sustainability as a part of corporate consciousness for the past months. Today, I was pointed towards the latest word from Mr. Welch, publically stating that it was “a dumb idea” for executives to focus so heavily on quarterly profits and share price gains. Wait, wasn’t it Welch who originally created the “shareholder value movement” in the early 80s? READ»