Entries tagged with microfinance

Responsibly sourced… Fair trade… Supporting local farmers… These increasingly abundant and familiar labels signal to consumers the social, environmental, and other beneficial impacts promised by the products we see on store shelves. But how can companies ensure that the purchase of a particular chocolate bar or bag of coffee will lift up the lives and futures of people up and down the supply chain?

In 2010 SKS Microfinance went public with great excitement from the financial markets and a hail of criticism from some in the industry. The criticism centered around the idea that profit is NOT a proxy for success and an aggressive focus on growth is bad for the poor.

During a recent visit with a microfinance partner in Senegal, a colleague and I encountered two of the most discussed issues related to the PPI: the kind of collection with associated advantages and disadvantages and the organization’s attitude toward cost. This blog is also available in French below the English copy, thanks to Absa Gueye, APSFD Senegal.

At the close of our four-day training in Nairobi, Kenya, Stephen Makanga of KADET stands up and requests that the participants acknowledge in a Kenyan way the excellent job done by the facilitators. He instructs the group of Kenyans and Ugandans to rub their hands together (creating heat), and then to open them up a bit when he calls half-kilo, then wider at one kilo, even wider at kilo-and-a-half, and wider at two kilos, followed by the rotating of the wrist as though working flour and when he called “Pasha Moto,” they clapped in unison to acknowledge a job well-done. Absa, Donald, I wore huge smiles at this gesture of appreciation and to acknowledge the liveliness and engagement of the participants during the training, we too participated in demonstrating pasha moto!