WAR! - Millions for Millions!
War! That’s right, War! There is a global ideological fight to recruit, train and profit from the BILLIONS at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Welcome to the world of microfinance. Am I exaggerating? I don’t think so and neither will you after you read this.
Let’s take a look at the battlefield. On one side we have generals like Muhammed Yunus of Grameen Bank (see posting of October 16th, Awards & recognitions) and Carmen Velasco of Pro Mujer. They are at the forefront of what I will call: The Triple Bottom Line Allies. On the other side we have the Citigroups and and generals like Maria Otero CEO of Acción International. Who are part of a group I will call: The Axis of Profit.
By using this naming convention I am not trying to type cast the groups but convey the powerful if not subtle distinction between the ideologies and the passions behind them. Maria Otero was recently quoted as saying, “’Pro Mujer is performing well, and it could become a commercial bank, but Carmen believes becoming commercial will dirty you with the ‘P’ word of profit. She thinks it will compromise the program.” Otero thinks that nonprofits don’t have much of a future in microfinance.”
On the other hand people like Muhammed Yunus are saying that they did not start to become a bank but to help eliminate poverty. Jonathan Lewis, the C.E.O. of MicroCredit Enterprises says it best. “If your core mission is to provide a channel out of desperate poverty, it creates a different set of questions than if your mission is to create a global market in microfinance futures.”
I’ll keep this post short because this is too big of a topic to cover in such a short read, plus Connie Bruck, reporter at large for The New Yorker has just written an excellent and I mean really excellent article called “Millions for Millions”. It is a investigative study of the mircofinance landscape and the competition for the millions at the bottom of the pyramid.
Go out and get your copy of The New Yorker magazine or print it from the following link:
and take it with you for a subway read or to your favorite cappuccino house. It is a long article but I guarantee you it will be time well spent.
Thank you to one of our readers, Ivan Rebolledo for bringing the article to my attention and a big thank you to Connie for writing such a great piece.
Monday, October 23, 2006
