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  • All HBS Web  (92)
    • News  (10)
    • Research  (66)
  • Faculty Publications  (32)

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  • All HBS Web  (92)
    • News  (10)
    • Research  (66)
  • Faculty Publications  (32)
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  • 13 Mar 2023
  • Research & Ideas

What Would It Take to Unlock Microfinance's Full Potential?

In the 50 years since modern microfinance was introduced as a tool to fight poverty, institutions have distributed hundreds of millions of loans to people in developing countries. Such loans are repaid at... View Details
Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint; Financial Services
  • 12 Sep 2012
  • Working Paper Summaries

Liability Structure in Small-Scale Finance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Keywords: by Fenella Carpena, Shawn Cole, Jeremy Shapiro & Bilal Zia
  • 19 May 2003
  • Lessons from the Classroom

Business Plan Winner Targets India Dropouts

small way they can. In addition, the existing microfinance institutions tend to focus on short-term loans targeted at income-generating activities. Q: Are there any similar programs in other developing... View Details
Keywords: by Carla Tishler; Financial Services
  • 2007
  • Chapter

Microfinance: Business, Profitability, and the Creation of Social Value

By: Michael Chu
The chapter examines the development of microfinance from its NGO origins to the present stage in which it is characterized by regulated commercial institutions capable of superior financial returns. It then looks at the creation of social value under these... View Details
Keywords: Microfinance; Investment Return; Profit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Social Enterprise; Non-Governmental Organizations; Perspective; Value Creation
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Chu, Michael. "Microfinance: Business, Profitability, and the Creation of Social Value." Chap. 28 in Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Social and Economic Value, by V. Kasturi Rangan, John A. Quelch, Gustavo Herrero, and Brooke Barton, 309–320. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
  • March 2019 (Revised March 2023)
  • Case

Accion's Fintech Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael Chu and Tricia Gregg
Accion, an NGO, had been a pioneer in microfinance since its entry into that sector in the early 1970s. Its investments in Banco Compartamos paid off, when the microfinance bank went IPO in 2007, leaving an influx of $138 million for Accion. Under a new CEO, Michael... View Details
Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Financial Inclusion; Technological Innovation; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Performance Effectiveness; Non-Governmental Organizations; Microfinance; Financial Institutions; Business Growth and Maturation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Industry Growth
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Rangan, V. Kasturi, Michael Chu, and Tricia Gregg. "Accion's Fintech Strategy." Harvard Business School Case 319-091, March 2019. (Revised March 2023.)
  • 11 Mar 2008
  • First Look

First Look: March 11, 2008

Kristi Yuthas Periodical:Stanford Social Innovation Review 6, no. 1 (winter 2008) Abstract In the debate over whether microfinance works, few microfinance institutions... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • 08 Jun 2010
  • First Look

First Look: June 8

empirical lacuna, we have developed a research program to measure the internal organization of firms—including their decentralization decisions—across a large range of industries and countries. Enamored with Scale: Scaling with Limited Impact in the View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • March 2007 (Revised April 2007)
  • Case

Micro Insurance Agency: Helping the Poor Manage Risk

By: Michael Chu and Jean Hazell
The notable success of insurance products for low-income clients of its microfinance network leads Opportunity International to launch the first global specialized microinsurance company, the Micro Insurance Agency (MIA). Building on the experience in 10 countries... View Details
Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Cost Management; Microfinance; Globalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Infrastructure; Nonprofit Organizations; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Asia; Latin America
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Chu, Michael, and Jean Hazell. "Micro Insurance Agency: Helping the Poor Manage Risk." Harvard Business School Case 307-089, March 2007. (Revised April 2007.)
  • Article

Liability Structure in Small-Scale Finance

By: Fenella Carpena, Shawn Cole, Jeremy Shapiro and Bilal Zia
Microfinance, the provision of small individual and business loans, has experienced dramatic growth, reaching over 150 million borrowers worldwide. Much of the success of microfinance has been attributed to attempts to overcome the challenges of information asymmetries... View Details
Keywords: Microfinance; Emerging Markets; Financial Markets; Legal Liability; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; India
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Carpena, Fenella, Shawn Cole, Jeremy Shapiro, and Bilal Zia. "Liability Structure in Small-Scale Finance." World Bank Economic Review 27, no. 3 (2013): 437–469.
  • March 2019 (Revised October 2020)
  • Case

GENTERA: Facing the Digital Age

By: Michael Chu and Carla Larangeira
After long dominating Mexican microfinance, Compartamos Banco faces the emergence of fintech, just as for the first time its loan portfolio and clients have declined. Enrique Majós, CEO of GENTERA, the bank´s parent company, is keenly aware of the profound changes... View Details
Keywords: Micro Finance; Base Of The Pyramid; Fintech; Microfinance; Disruption; Innovation and Management; Competitive Strategy; North America; Mexico
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Chu, Michael, and Carla Larangeira. "GENTERA: Facing the Digital Age." Harvard Business School Case 319-092, March 2019. (Revised October 2020.)
  • 20 May 2008
  • First Look

First Look: May 20, 2008

School Case 308-094 After an international IPO yielding extraordinary returns to original investors, Banco Compartamos, Mexico's leading microfinance institution, contemplates its future strategic and competing priorities: maintaining... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • 31 Jul 2007
  • First Look

First Look: July 31, 2007

search processes that shape networks, cognition, and capabilities. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-106.pdf   Cases & Course MaterialsBanca Regional Andino: Facing the Globalization of Microfinance Harvard... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • 14 Nov 2007
  • First Look

First Look: November 14, 2007

PlaNet Finance was a French NGO providing technical support and training services to microfinance institutions (i.e., institutions providing financial services to the poor) and... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • 27 Jul 2010
  • First Look

First Look: July 27

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w16185   Cases & Course MaterialsMicrofin Michael Chu and Enrique KramerHarvard Business School Case 309-126 The case presents the management dilemmas of a new institution in an undeveloped View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • 03 Feb 2018
  • Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

Larry Fink recently created a shockwave. As cofounder, chairman, and CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest global asset management firms, in an open letter to CEOs he caught the attention of financial markets and beyond by insisting on the importance of... View Details
Keywords: by Julie Battilana
  • Research Summary

Overview

By: Reshmaan N. Hussam

Engaged with field work in South Asia and East Africa, Professor Hussam places a focus on exploring questions with strong theoretical motivation in the economics literature as well as relevant downstream policy implications. Her research spans four broad interests.... View Details

  • 27 Apr 2023
  • Cold Call Podcast

Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi: Transforming Lives with Access to Credit

Keywords: Re: Caroline M. Elkins; Banking; Financial Services
  • March 2018
  • Case

Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal

By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Inakshi Sobti
After the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Chaudhary Group, a billion-dollar conglomerate in Nepal, decides to play a pivotal role in rebuilding the country. The Group's philanthropic arm (Chaudhary Foundation) works with stakeholders and develops a blue print for short- and... View Details
Keywords: Leadership; Family Business; Decision Choices and Conditions; Developing Countries and Economies; Social Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Venture Capital; Microfinance; Geographic Location; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Management; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Resource Allocation; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Natural Disasters; Social and Collaborative Networks; Social Issues; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Banking Industry; Auto Industry; Real Estate Industry; Travel Industry; Nepal
Citation
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Malloy, Christopher J., Lauren H. Cohen, and Inakshi Sobti. "Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal." Harvard Business School Case 218-100, March 2018.
  • 15 Jan 2013
  • First Look

First Look: January 15

Much of the success of microfinance has been attributed to attempts to overcome the challenges of information asymmetries in uncollateralized lending. However, very little is known about the optimal contract structure of these loans, and... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • November 2022 (Revised October 2024)
  • Case

'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman and Julia M. Comeau
Financial Inclusion. Dignity. Trust. These were the core principles driving James Mwangi’s transformation of Equity Building Society, insolvent in 1991, into what is, today, Equity Group Holdings, East and Central Africa’s largest retail banking institution. Raised in... View Details
Keywords: Income Inequality; Micro Finance; Microcredit; Microfinance; Banks and Banking; Equality and Inequality; Mission and Purpose; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Kenya
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Elkins, Caroline M., Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman, and Julia M. Comeau. "'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings." Harvard Business School Case 323-048, November 2022. (Revised October 2024.)
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