Microfinance Week In Review: Week Ending April 29, 2011
Here is some of the latest news in the microfinance, small business, and green business sectors:
- “Mexico’s Compartamos 1Q Net Profit Rose 14.8% On Higher Fees“ – Wall Street Journal
Mexican microfinance lender Banco Compartamos (COMPART.MX) said Monday its net profit rose 14.8% in the first quarter as the company generated greater income from delinquency fees and a voluntary life-insurance product. Compartamos, which specializes in small loans to individuals and small businesses, reported net profit of 459 million pesos ($39.5 million), or MXN1.10 per share excluding shares repurchased, compared with MXN400 million or MXN0.96 per share in the year-earlier period. Read More
Hear Compartamos CEO Carlos Danel speak on balancing mission, profit, and impact in microfinance at the 2011 Microfinance USA Conference.
- “Micro-lending site Kiva goes green” - Reuters
Kiva, a site that enables person-to-person loans, has just added a new category of green loans to help borrowers move to cleaner and safer forms of energy, green agriculture, transport and recycling. Loans made through Kiva generally go to individuals or entrepreneurs in the developing world, but some do go to people in the U.S. Read More
- “How to Cut Small-Business Operating Costs“ – PC World
Most people expect that running a small business means heading to the bank, hat in hand, asking for a five- or six-figure loan just so they can get through the month. Thanks to modern technology and the Web, however, that’s no longer the case. Savvy business owners know that numerous cheap and free tools work just as well as their expensive, brand-name counterparts. Here’s where to look for business bargains. Read More
Microfinance Week In Review: Week Ending April 22, 2011
Happy Earth Day! Here are some of the week’s news in the microfinance, green business intiatives and the small business sectors:
A new effort is underway to advance entrepreneurship in the developing world. The U.S. State Department recently launched a program to promote business creation in emerging markets known as the Global Entrepreneurship Program. Leading entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations in the public and private sector met in Washington to discuss the best ways to achieve social and economic impact in underserved markets. This included mobilizing capital, scaling businesses, and working with large corporations. These initiatives are beginning to transform the way many think about economic development abroad. Read More
- “Samuel Adams and ACCION USA Help Local Businesses“ – Queens Gazette
For those seeking to begin a business in the fiercely competitive metropolis of New York City, a recent partnership may help get their idea off the ground. The recent partnership between Samuel Adams Brewing Company and ACCION USA, a not-for-profit microlending organization, has extended an opportunity for many to achieve success within the food, beverage and hospitality sectors. Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program recently extended its resources to New York City, as well as Ohio and the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, expecting to provide loans totaling at least $250,000 to small businesses within the city. The program’s ultimate goal is to loan $1,000,000 by the end of 2011. Read More
Socially responsible investing is huge and getting bigger. In the U.S. alone, an estimated $3 trillion—roughly 12% of all assets under management—are labeled socially responsible investments (SRI), according to a recent report by Boston-based Social Investment Forum Foundation. As it grows, SRI is becoming harder to define, and it’s harder for investors to feel confident that the dollars they believed they had invested responsibly are underwriting ethical and responsible business practices. Read More
- “Small Business News: Small Biz Social Media Guide“ – Small Business Trends
Social media is such a huge part of small business marketing these days, we just can’t resist sharing the latest whenever we can. This roundup is arranged with the latest news and opinion, but also as a guide to help you figure out the latest trends and where your business needs to be looking in the near future. Do you have a plan for using social media? If not, we hope this roundup will get you started. Read More
Microfinance Week In Review: Week Ending April 7, 2011
Some of the week’s news in the microfinance, green business intiatives and the small business sectors:
- “Microlending Program Focuses on Hospitality Business“ – New York Times
Four years ago, Riccardo Romero could not find a bank to finance his first restaurant, so he ended up opening the Arepas Cafe in Astoria, Queens, with money from friends and a $10,000 loan from Acción, a nonprofit microlender that has seeded small businesses across the country. Riccardo Romero was unable to obtain traditional bank loans to open and expand his restaurant, Arepas Cafe, in Queens. Read More
- “Credit Crunch gives ‘Microlending’ a Boost” - Wall Street Journal
With lending conditions still tighter than they were before the economic downturn, many U.S. consumers are turning to microloans to help them consolidate debt, pay medical bills, start a business or keep one afloat. Read More
- “Make the Next Bailout Serve Small Business” - Bloomberg
TARP did a better job of helping Wall Street firms than it did at solving the problems of small business borrowers. While the TARP panel disbanded on Apr. 3, policy makers should learn from the shortcomings identified in its report to prevent small business from getting hammered again during the next financial crisis. Read More
- “Will SBA’s New Online Tool Boost Small-Buisness Lending?” - AOL Small Business
As part of the Small Business Administration’s newly redesigned website, the agency announced Friday the launch of its online Lender Toolkit, a section of the site intended to give small-business lenders access to more in-depth information and resources on the SBA’s loan programs. According to the SBA, the new site strengthens its collaboration with lending partners in order to make it easier for lenders to provide small businesses with the best loan programs and financing options. Read More
Microfinance Week In Review: Week Ending April 1, 2011
Some of the week’s news in the microfinance, green business intiatives and the small business sectors:
- “5 can-do companies made in America” – MSN Money
Despite the impressive growth in emerging markets, the U.S. still ranks consistently high for the kind of moxie and can-do attitude it takes to invent breakthrough technologies and products, and in creating fast-growing, job-producing companies, say academics at Babson College in Massachusetts who study these things. A recent count, by a Babson College professor, of the most entreprenurial companies in the world shows that 60% of them are based in the U.S., even though the U.S. accounts for only 23% of the global economy. Read More
- “Documentary looks at ‘rock star’ of banking” – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
When I first started reporting on women entrepreneurs in conflict and post-conflict zones in 2005, nearly everyone, from IMF officials in their offices to development workers in the field, told me the only women I would find would be “selling cheese by the side of the road.” Women, I was told again and again, did not own the kind of growing businesses that created jobs and economic growth. This, it seemed, was strictly the purview of men. Read More