Posts Tagged ‘ microfinance ’
A HSPFI Lending Team Update. Sari-sari (variety) stores are really common amongst HSPFI borrowers in the Philippines; they come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, from a small window display in the back of a home to neat standalone buildings on the side of a street. One of the things that I was [ READ MORE ]
A HSPFI Lending Team Update. Ms. Leilita Esparagoza is the owner of Esparagoza Store, a sari-sari (variety) store in Valencia, Bukidnon. Sari-sari stores abound in the Philippines – it’s one of the most popular businesses for HSPFI clients – but it quickly became clear that Leilita is no ordinary sari-sari store owner. As we sat [ READ MORE ]
Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog. Imagine you’re a loan officer who’s working for one of Kiva’s partner MFIs. You’ve been traveling around the field, collecting repayments from quite a few clients over the course of the day. It’s getting late, and you’ve amassed a huge amount of cash – the equivalent of a few [ READ MORE ]
Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog. Having read Meg’s excellent blog post “Bad Roads, Interest Rates, and MFI Sustainability” and the ensuing comments from Kiva lenders, I admit that I was rather baffled. Particularly by comments that varied upon the theme of: “In the U.S. you can get loans for ~8%! You can get credit [ READ MORE ]
A HSPFI Lending Team Update. I was just two days off the plane and back in the Philippines when I heard that HSPFI’s 2009 Q4 Project Officers Meeting would be taking place the next day. I really wanted to make something for the POs as a small token of thanks, so I threw a video [ READ MORE ]
If you follow me via @Anecdoted on Twitter, you’ll notice that I share quite a few articles criticizing microfinance, far more than ones that praise. Despite this evidence to the contrary, I do believe that microfinance “works” – but not in the “silver bullet” transformative way that most people often associate with microfinance and poverty [ READ MORE ]
Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog. Every time I come back from the field, I’m weighed down by videos, photos, barely legible notebook scribbles. Stories from Kiva borrowers, the good and the bad. As I turn these stories into journals I try to imagine what it would be like to be a Kiva lender on [ READ MORE ]
Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog. The world has been abuzz with Monday’s news of the election “massacre” in Maguindanao, Mindanao. About 50 lawyers, journalists and relatives of local politicians were abducted and brutally killed because of their affiliation with an opposition politician. This horrific event is being followed closely by the international media, including [ READ MORE ]
Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog. Having followed the recent debate over Kiva’s transparency and the P2P model, the main critique that stuck with me was that there should be more transparency on Kiva’s partner MFIs. This resonated with me because I believe that Kiva has, on the whole, picked out partner MFIs that do [ READ MORE ]
Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog. Bizarre is probably not the best word to describe this client interview, but without a doubt we were intrigued and utterly fascinated by the alien-looking blob we saw sitting pretty before us. Corroi, HSPFI‘s Kiva Coordinator and I found ourselves staring at a live (or semi-live) sea cucumber during [ READ MORE ]
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