December 16, 2013
Grameen Foundation and Grameen Foundation India have worked with Intellecap to create a 4-part series highlighting challenges and solutions for various aspects of the Business Correspondent Model. This blog was created by Abby Addis and Kimberly Davies.
December 12, 2013
Cross-posted from NextBillion.net
While it is true that regulatory and financial viability issues are paramount challenges faced by Business Correspondents in India, these issues have overshadowed other operational challenges that BCs face on the ground.
Grameen Foundation announces the release of the operational overview report of Easypaisa, the largest branchless banking service in Pakistan. The report, commissioned by Grameen Foundation via the South Asian Micro-Finance Network (SAMN), identifies key factors that have enabled Easypaisa’s success.
This report—based on a representative state-wide study of microfinance in Karnataka, India—demonstrates that it is possible and necessary for the microfinance sector to measure and understand itself through a strongly and consistently pro-poor lens and make decisions based on this.
Most economic development programs that aim to reach the poorest households have not been designed using a sustainable business approach. Instead, these programs have been developed as grants and charity-driven projects. While there is a role for grant-driven programs, organizations can also make sustainable business decisions to extend outreach to poorer populations in the medium to long term.
Effective data analytics is essential for meeting the bottom line, and is even more critical when you are trying to meet a double bottom line. This case study examines how PT Ruma – a social enterprise based in Indonesia – is using social and business data to change its business practices.
In Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Taking Another Look, Odell examines studies which have demonstrated that microfinance helps poor people better cope with financial shocks that often upend their lives. It also addresses the difficulties in isolating microfinance’s impact from the myriad forces at play in poor people’s lives.
Grameen Foundation's Growth Guarantees program was launched in 2005 to increase microfinance clients’ access to loans by guaranteeing local funding for the microfinance institutions (MFIs) that serve them.