Posted on April 4, 2010 by Raj Melville
A good article that touches on some of the issues in my last post is a recent interview of Vijay Mahajan on the Credit Suisse website. In the interview Mr. Mahajan points out to some of the prerequisites for microfinance to pull people out of poverty. He also highlights the need to match investment growth in this sector to the available management capacity in order to avoid a bubble in the sector. Here are some extracts from his interview. Read the rest of the post at http://blog.ambientengines.com
Filed under: BOP, India, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, micro-finance, microfinance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: microfinance, micro-finance, sustainable development, BOP, Social Business, microcredit, social entrepreneurship, BASIX, Vijay Mahajan, Credit Suisse | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 14, 2009 by Raj Melville
An Investors perspective of Microfinance – Over the past years, microfinance has grown increasingly prominent and found its way into the common vernacular. As microfinance has become increasingly mainstream, major investors have started to take positions in microfinance companies. What are the potential returns and social impacts that investors see in this segment? More details at http://blog.ambientengines.com
Filed under: Conference, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, micro-finance, microfinance, social Innovation | Tagged: Babson college, Boston, Conference, ecosystem, Investment, investors, micro-finance, microcredit, microfinance, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, social Innovation, Social Investment | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 24, 2009 by Raj Melville
Couple of months ago we had the privilege to host Mr. N. Srinivasan in Boston. Mr. Srinivasan is the author of the ‘Microfinance in India: State of the Sector Report 2008’, was Chief General Manager of India’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) where he served for 25 years. Here are excerpts from an interview and Mr Srinivasan’s open letter to the Indian Government.
Filed under: Investment, Micro-enterprises, Social Ecosystem, micro-finance, microfinance, sustainable development | Tagged: microfinance, micro-finance, sustainable development, yunus, India, microcredit, savings, NABARD | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 16, 2009 by Raj Melville
For the first time TIECON EAST – TiE Boston’s annual conference on entrepreneurship and innovation – had a dedicated track on Social Enterprise. The three panels for the track were all well attended. Here are some excerpts from an article I wrote for Lokvani about the sessions.
Filed under: Agricultural Development, Conference, Food, Health, India, Information Technology, Investment, Micro-enterprises, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, environment, international development, micro-finance, microfinance, mobile technology, social Innovation, sustainability | Tagged: Social Entrepreneur, Social Ecosystem, Health, Conference, Rural Development, Agricultural Development, micro-finance, Boston, sustainable development, Social Business, sustainability, Social Impact, India, internet, microcredit, Information Technology, mobile technology, Sustainable ventures, Food Supply, TIECON | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 9, 2009 by Raj Melville
Bala Vishwanath, an IIT and IIM alum, saw an opportunity to multiply the social impact of every dollar, quit his job and worked to setup www.UnitedProsperity.org United Prosperity helps provide loan guarantees that enable poor entrepreneurs to borrow from Microfinance Institutions to build their enterprises in developing countries.
Filed under: India, Micro-enterprises, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, international development, micro-finance, microfinance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: Social Entrepreneur, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation, microfinance, micro-finance, sustainable development, yunus, Social Business, Social Impact, Philanthropy, Social Investment, India, microcredit, Kiva, United Prosperity | 1 Comment »
Posted on August 1, 2008 by Raj Melville
The Gates Foundation has made some major investments in the area of finance over the past few years. Now, based on their findings and experiments, they are making a big push into the area of micro-savings.
Filed under: BOP, Information Technology, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, international development, micro-finance, social Innovation | Tagged: Ethiopia, Gates Foundation, Information Technology, Kenya, M-Pesa, MFI, micro-finance, microcredit, microfinance, microsavings, Opportunity International, Poverty, rural banks, Rural Development, rural savings, Vodafone, Wall Street Journal | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 30, 2008 by Raj Melville
Prof. Yunus continued to speak about his vision of creating social businesses to help address some of the pressing issues facing us. He challenged the youth to start social businesses by saying. “I would like to say that while we at Grameen have done a few things, there are many causes that are waiting for you to take up”
Filed under: Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, micro-finance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: bangladesh, Boston, business models, grameen, micro-finance, microcredit, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, womens issues, yunus | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 27, 2008 by Raj Melville
I had the pleasure of moderating a wonderful panel on “The New Philanthropy – New models for Social Impact” with four great speakers presenting a wide range of activities that their different organizations pursue in the social sector. The cross section of organizations provided a range of perspectives on the innovative new approaches being adopted to help solve some of the most pressing social issues worldwide.
Filed under: Conference, Health, Information Technology, Philanthropy, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, micro-finance, non-profit, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy | Tagged: social Innovation, micro-finance, Ashoka, Acumen Fund, google.org, calvert foundation, New philanthropy, Social Impact, Philanthropy, Social Investment, venture fund, venture philanthropy, India, microcredit, google, google foundation, poverty alleviation, SME, small and medium enterprises, Community Investment Notes, Community Investment, Micro-enterprises, microplace.com, hybrid philanthropy, renewable energy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 27, 2008 by Raj Melville
Follow up to my post on “Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Social Business and the Future of Capitalism”. The Boston Globe published an interesting interview with Prof. Yunus while he was in Boston to speak at the MIT commencement. I have excerpted one of the questions below.
Filed under: Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, micro-finance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: capitalism, grameen, microcredit, MIT, Nobel Prize, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainability, sustainable development, womens issues, yunus | 1 Comment »
