User Post GreenMicrofinance Celebrates EARTH DAY 2009 – Launches Online University Forum edit GreenMicrofinance™, a cutting-edge Pennsylvania-based triple bottom line company, has set Earth Day, April 22, 2009, at 5:00 PM EDT, for the launch of its online climate change and microfinance university network, the GMf University Forum™. The GMf University Forum, its own social [...]

Some of the challenges faced by Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in India have revolved around the issues of a lack of trained labor for local level administration, resource mobilization and the cost of services. One way to tackle these problems is through the use of Management Information Systems (MIS) and this is being demonstrated by Equitas, [...]

Sa-Dhan, an association of community development finance institutions in India will host a National Microfinance Conference in New Delhi on March 31, 2009. The conference is centered on the theme, ‘Microfinance Ecosystem: Equilibrium Between Growth & Effectiveness’. One of the goals for this event is for Sa-Dhan member organization to come together with academicians, practioners [...]

The Centre for Development Finance (CDF) announces some very exciting internship opportunities for this summer.  If you’re looking for something more long term, word has it that CDF will likely be releasing postings for BoP related full time positions in the coming weeks… check back for more information! Total Immersion Programme in Finance and Development [...]

Whether you are an individual investor, an institutional fund, or a microfinance organization, the issue of returns on social investment is always a concern.  The difference is usually in the approach that each stakeholder may take in measuring these returns.  The Grameen Foundation made a major stride in the effort to create an evaluation framework [...]

The market for double bottom-line investments in India is becoming hotter and hotter. Interestingly, its not just the microfinance institutions who are attracting the capital. We reported earlier in TC-I about MokshaYug Access, securing $2 million in funding from Unitus and the ISB based SME fund set-up by Google.org in partnership with Omidyar Network and Soros [...]

So living in New York City has made it damn near impossible to not be wrapped up in the minute by minute saga that is the US financial crisis. Moreover, the fact that here at Stern Business School, over 50% of our job prospects have evaporated with the slew of bankruptcies and buyouts has effectively [...]

So, it looks as though many smaller MFIs will now become absorbed by the larger players as the microfinance sector is expected to enter into period of substantial consolidation within India. According to Microcapital.org, The sector, which has lent close to USD 221.9 Million (Rs 10,000 crore), is moving aggressively to expand its operations. With [...]

The ThinkChange India staff is committed to providing our readers with interviews with people we believe are at the brink of something special but have for the most part been overlooked by the mainstream media. Readers will be able to see other conversations under our TC-I Changemakers tab. A few weeks back Aishwarya spoke with [...]

Editor’s Note: Aparna Dalal works with the Financial Access Initiative, a research consortium between New York University, Harvard, Yale, and Innovations for Poverty Action. FAI is focused on finding answers to how financial services can better meet the needs of poor households. FAI aims to provide rigorous research on the impacts of financial access and [...]