Related Research Articles
Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) is a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit organization with headquarters in Madison, WI, whose mission is to create opportunities for access to microfinance, services and markets to improve the lives and communities of the working poor in Latin America. WCCN works with partner Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and Fair Trade Cooperatives in Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru.
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment, or a verifiable credit history. It is designed to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty. Many recipients are illiterate, and therefore unable to complete paperwork required to get conventional loans. As of 2009 an estimated 74 million people held microloans that totaled US$38 billion. Grameen Bank reports that repayment success rates are between 95 and 98 percent.
Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings and checking accounts; microinsurance; and payment systems, among other services. Microfinance services are designed to reach excluded customers, usually poorer population segments, possibly socially marginalized, or geographically more isolated, and to help them become self-sufficient.
Pierre Morad Omidyar is a French-American billionaire technology entrepreneur, software engineer, and philanthropist. He is the founder of eBay where he served as chairman from 1998 to 2015. Omidyar and his wife, Pamela, are philanthropists who founded Omidyar Network in 2004.
Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network reports it has committed more than $992 million to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies across multiple investment areas. According to the OECD, Omidyar Network’s financing for 2019 development increased by 10% to US$58.9 million.
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life is a college of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. The college was founded with the aid of a $10 million donation by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam in 2000 to encourage students to perform volunteer and public services for the community.
Vikram Akula is an American banker and the founder of SKS Microfinance, a micro finance company and former chairperson of Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. SKS was an organization that offered microloans and insurance to poor women in India. He stepped down as SKS Chairperson in November 2011 and became Chairperson Emeritus.
Kiva is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California that allows people to lend money via the Internet to low-income entrepreneurs and students in 77 countries. Kiva's mission is "to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive."
Legatum Limited, also known as Legatum, is a private investment firm, headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Legatum is a partnership that uses its own funds to invest globally. The firm also invests in activities to promote entrepreneurship and free enterprise as well as anti-slavery, health and education initiatives.
IDFC Bharat Ltd is a microfinance bank, operating in the Tamil Nadu area of South India. Since 1993, it has provided small loans to women without access to formal credit and who typically have daily incomes of less than INR 80 (US$2) per day.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". Impact investments provide capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
Wokai was an organization that allowed people to contribute directly to microfinance institutions in China, which in turn lend the money to entrepreneurs in rural China. It was a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Oakland, California, with core operations in Beijing, supported by individual donors, corporate sponsors, fundraising events and grants. As of May 2012, Wokai concluded operations due to funding roadblocks and the need for a new CEO.
AccessBank Liberia (ABL), is a microfinance commercial bank in Liberia. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Central Bank of Liberia, the national banking regulator.
Bob Pattillo is an entrepreneur and founder of Gray Ghost Ventures, Gray Matters Capital, First Light Ventures, GMC Ratings, GGMF, ISFC, and IDEX and co-founder of Bellwether Fund, ASA Intl, and Village Capital. Gray Matters Capital (GMC) is an Impact Investing Enterprise that actively invests in education for low income students in emerging markets. GMC's mission is an education leading to a purpose filled life for 100 million women.
Village Capital is a venture capital firm that finds, trains, and invests in early-stage ventures solving major global problems in agriculture, education, energy, financial inclusion, and health. VilCap Investments, LLC is its affiliated, managed investment fund. The programs use a model referred to as peer-selection, in which the entrepreneurs themselves choose the companies in the program that receive pre-committed investments of around $50,000. As of October 2018, Village Capital reported that they had made over 100 investments, and that over 900 entrepreneurs had gone through a total of more than 50 programs.
Hotels.ng is a Nigerian online hotels booking agency which was launched in 2013. The platform was founded by Mark Essien who hails from Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and claims to list over 7,138 hotels from 320 cities in Nigeria.
Gray Matters Capital is an impact investing foundation founded by Bob Pattillo. Its mission is to achieve "An education leading to a purpose filled life for 100, Million Women by 2036." GMC is based in Atlanta, Georgia with global offices in Nairobi, Kenya and Bangalore, India. The scale and the use of business practices with social enterprises makes it one of the leaders in impact investing.
Mark Anthony Essien is a Nigerian entrepreneur, software developer and startup investor. He is the founder and CEO of Hotels.ng, one of the first online hotel booking websites in Nigeria. Before he founded Hotels.ng in 2013, Essien had previously built a file sharing software called Gnumm, followed by a language learning startup called Ingolingo.
United Income, Inc. is an online investment management and financial planning company located in Washington D.C. The company was founded in September 2016 by Matt Fellowes, an American entrepreneur and former Brookings Institution scholar. It launched its services in September 2017. The company uses data insights to provide investment advisory services and retirement planning solutions to retired and near-retirement individuals. On July 31, 2019, Capital One acquired United Income. This acquisition builds on a 2018 investment Capital One made in United Income.
Scripbox.com India Private Limited is a digital wealth management service. It was founded in Bengaluru, India in 2012 and is considered to be evolving the robo-advisory landscape in India.
