Late last month, the Social Venture Network announced the recipients of its 2008 Innovations Awards, one of which was Jonathan Lewis, founder of MicroCredit Enterprises. MicroCredit Enterprises is a private sector anti-poverty program that helps to fund microcredit programs. It’s innovation was to guarantee the loans that microfinance organizations use to capitalize their loan funds, [...]
It costs more to be poor. That sounds like a real contradiction but it is very real. For example, lower income households without relationships with financial services institutions pay premiums for simple services like cashing a pay check or paying a utility bill. Buying monthly commuter transit passes gets you a discount but, if you [...]
While many of the banks with easily recognized names are writhing in the grip of the financial markets meltdown, there’s a set of financial institutions that seem to be doing just fine. They are the community banks and non-profits that provide most of what little debt financing is available for the nation’s microbusinesses. In one [...]
A Senate Small Business Committee hearing last week explored the ongoing challenges faced by women and minorities, and small business owners from distressed urban and rural communities, when it comes to access to capital. The picture portrayed through witness testimony was pretty grim. It was also hauntingly familiar. We learn that collateral and net worth [...]
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from The Journal Blog