GreenMicrofinancing

This past week at the summit a major topic was interest rate transparency, as some MFIs have come under fire for charging relatively high rates and allowing "mission drift" to move them to a priority of high profits instead of the original mission of poverty alleviation. Long time microfinance insider Chuck Waterfield has taken the initiative to address these concerns, launching MicroFinance Transparency.

A highlight for me was the lively discussion between Professor Muhammed Yunus, Damian von Stauffenberg (the founder of MicroRate), and Chuck. They debated the importance of the profit motive in growing microfinance, with Yunus holding firm to the ideal of not making a profit, seeking only to break-even and pass any potential profits back to the clients. In my view microfinance has always been a profitable business proposition, with profit driving the ability to expand the reach of poverty alleviation efforts. Perhaps the debate should be reframed around reinvesting profits to expand reach vs. passing profits on to outside investors. Or is it possible to do both?

 The topic is getting great press in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, and many more (100+ stories listed when I searched Google News).  It's great to see this positive move coming from inside the Microfinance community to address these issues now rather than later.
 
With current energy price pressures, environmental degradation, and climate change looming, we at GreenMicrofinance hope to lead a similar movement among MFIs, disclosing standardized metrics of environmental impact and sustainablility.

 I can speak for us as a team and say we are thrilled to be blogging daily from the Asia-Pacific Microcredit Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Our team in Bali includes Elizabeth Israel, Kathleen Robbins, and myself, Dan Lundmark. Back in the USA we have Betsy Teutsch, Thomas Israel, and Joan Hall holding down the fort.

Elizabeth and Kathleen will be presenting at the summit, you can find them here:

Presenting - Tuesday, July 29 * Jakarta Room A
Panel Presentation 11:15 - Microfinance, Their Clients and Clean Energy
Associated Session 18:30 - Financing Clean Energy: A Case Study

In addition to presenting and blogging, we will be filming interviews and recording for an ongoing GMf documentary film project, upcoming podcasts, and educational materials. A special thanks to USAID and MicroLINKS for making this possible.

Got a topic of discussion you would like to see here? Leave a comment with your suggestion. Visit daily here on the GreenMicrofinance blog as we bring a bit of Bali to you.  See you in Bali!