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Technology & New Innovations at Chicago Microfinance Conference
At Friday’s Chicago Booth and Zell Center Microfinance Conference, several of my colleagues and members of heard from ‘s SVP of International Business Development, Dennis Ripley, who spoke as part of a panel called “New Products and Innovations in Microfinance,” along with Kate Cochran, COO at Vittana; Karl Muth, Consulting Economist at Grameen; and moderator Nina Read more…
Tagged 2012 Chicago Microfinance Conference, Africa, ATMs, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Chicago Microfinance Conference, Clients, Colombia, Credit Suisse, Dennis Ripley, DePaul University, Ghana, Grameen, hub-and-spoke model, Kenya, Latin America, Loans, M-PESA, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, POS devices, Poverty, Richard Leftley, Savings, Smart Campaign, Students, Technology, Tigo, Uganda, Vittana, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Images of Microfinance… in San Diego?!?
When you think about microfinance clients, what comes to mind? For most of us, we think of international microfinance, but some paradigms shifted several weeks ago as attendees of the San Diego Microfinance Summit spent their lunch hours shopping at 45 booths from local San Diego vendors and restaurants, all of which were funded by microfinance loans. Read more…
Tagged Accion, Clients, Community, Conference, Domestic microfinance, Ending Poverty, Events, Financial services, Grameen, Kiva, Loans, Microfinance, San Diego, Technology
Opportunity Participates in the 2011 Global Microcredit Summit
This week, one of the largest microfinance industry conferences in the world launches in Valladolid, Spain. The 15th annual Global Microcredit Summit runs Monday, Nov. 14-Thursday, Nov. 17 and features Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, and more than 2,000 delegates from over 100 countries, including Opportunity International‘s Read more…
Tagged BRAC, Ending Poverty, Events, Facebook, Financial services, Fonkoze, Global Microcredit Summit, Grameen, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, International Labour Organization, MFI, Microcredit, Microensure, Microfinance, Microfinance Information Exchange, Microinsurance, MIX Market, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, Opportunity International, Richard Leftley, Social Media, Spain, Twitter, videos
In Support of Muhammad Yunus
The following post was written by Opportunity International’s CEO Bill Morgenstern. Earlier this week, the Bangladesh central bank took steps to remove Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus as Managing Director of Grameen, citing a mandatory retirement age of 60 for managing directors. Members of Grameen’s board and Professor Yunus, who turns 71 this year, have filed Read more…
Tagged Ending Poverty, Grameen, Grameen Bank, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, Opportunity International, Poverty, what we're reading
Does Microfinance Reduce Poverty? Grameen Hosts a Chicago Event
On Monday at the Chase Auditorium in Chicago, Grameen Foundation hosted a lunchtime discussion called, “Does microfinance reduce poverty? A dialogue on the social impact of microfinance as a development tool.” This event aimed to answer this challenge: microcredit has been successful in increasing access to capital by the poor but does it actually reduce poverty Read more…
Tagged Beth Houle, Chicago, Clients, Dominican University, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Grameen, Grameen Foundation, Investments, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Ruth-Anne Renaud, Savings, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
The Potential of Cell Phone Banking
Wondering if cell phone banking can reach the unreachable? CGAP Technology Blog has published the results of a discussion with Daryl Collins (co-author of Portfolios of the Poor) and Olga Morawczynski (of Grameen Foundation) from June’s Mobile Money Summit, an examination that highlights some of the keys to effective cell phone banking. Blog author Mark Read more…
Tagged biometric technology, biometrics, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, CGAP, cgap technology blog, Grameen, Grameen Foundation, Insurance, Kenya, Loans, M-banking, M-PESA, Malawi, Mobile Banking, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Opportunity Malawi, Portfolios of the Poor, Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day, Professional training, Savings, Technology, Training
Chicago Microfinance Conference: Can Technology Innovations Transform Microfinance?
At the 6th Annual Chicago Microfinance Conference on Friday, a panel of experts explored the possibilities and pitfalls of ever-changing technology in the microfinance industry. Moderator Preeth Gowdar, Kellogg School of Management, led the session entitled “Getting ‘Techy:’ Can Technology Innovations Transform Microfinance?” Gowdar started out with a story about when he was working in Read more…
Tagged Cell phone banking, CGAP, Chicago Microfinance Conference, Cloud technology, Conference, Expert, George Conrad, Grameen, Grameen Foundation, Intern, John McMahon, Kiva, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Mobile Phones, Opportunity Rwanda, Rural banking, SalesForce, Sarah Rotman, Scott Bellows, Technology
College student shares her discovery of microfinance
The following is a guest post by Kelsey McGrath a student at the Univerity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In January, I spent a couple of hours with staff at Opportunity International’s Oak Brook office. Although it was just a lunch break for them, it was a turning point for me. This semester, I’ve decided to Read more…
Tagged Campus, College, Education, Grameen, Grameen Bank, Mobile Banking, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, Peace Corps, Students, Students Twodollarchallenge, Women
