Publications

April 2019
Case

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe and George Gonzalez

In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online purchases through four interest-free... View Details

22 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 22, 2018

this tool to optimize impact and financial performance going forward. This case was designed to be taught alongside Root Capital’s Efficient Impact Frontier Simulation exercise. Purchase this case:https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/218084-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

19 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

Analyzing Institutions to Solve Big Problems

movement arguments to examine institutional dynamics, said coauthor Johanna Mair, a visiting scholar at Stanford University. The Intra-Organizational Politics of Institutional Complexity is an in-depth case study of the rise and fall of a View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel & Anna Secino

26 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 26, 2019

case:https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/819038-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 516-005 BancoSol and Microfinance in Bolivia BancoSol, a microfinance bank headquartered in La Paz, Bolivia, was forced to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

YES BANK: Mainstreaming Development into Indian Banking

By: Michael Chu and Namrata Arora

YES BANK, founded in 2003 and highly successful, has consistently been profitable meeting the Indian government's Priority Sector Lending (PSL) requirements, unlike virtually all other private sector banks, which view PSL activity as a necessary but loss-making part of... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Private Equity; Microfinance; Investment; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Expansion; Banking Industry; India

24 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 24

interviewing hundreds of microfinance clients around the globe, the authors were able to identify five tools drawn from management accounting where improved knowledge would have a substantial impact including cost management, throughput... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 17

School Case 510-104 Founded as a for-profit microfinance company, Equitas had acquired nearly a million clients in the short two years since it was founded. The founder, Vasu, and his management team wished to accelerate the already... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Want People to Save More? Send a Text

real interest rate, compared to the standard 0.3 percent, and was announced as "the best option in the market" for saving. Groups were randomly assigned to one of the three savings options and managed by the Chilean microfinance... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

01 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Crowdfunding a Poor Investment?

through the crowd to lesser-known microfinance borrowers in developing countries. Nanda puts most current crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo in the equivalent of the donation or lending category. Kickstarter began as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

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

19 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 19

enterprise for the provision of affordable housing in India. After India's microfinance industry collapses, mHS needs to reposition itself for continued operations and long-term growth. Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 1, 2008

b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=808112 SKS Microfinance Harvard Business School Case 208-137 Vikram Akula, CEO of SKS Microfinance, seeks a venture capital investment to fund his firm. SKS, one of the largest and fastest growing View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 18

subsidiary is Compartamos Banco, has been a fantastically successful endeavor since it started in the 1990s. But in 2014, Gentera faces challenges in expanding beyond group-lending and micro-credit into microfinance and beyond in order to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 10

Ashraf, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin Publication:World Development 38, no. 3 (March 2010) Abstract Female "empowerment" has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 23

http://hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=409113 Who Killed Bhavani Manjula?—A Story of Microfinance in Andhra Pradesh Harvard Business School Case 508-021 Abstract unavailable at this time. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 20

right solution for Bangladesh. He assembled a critical group of partners in a venture, GrameenPhone, which included Scandinavian telecom operators; Grameen Bank, the microfinance pioneer; Bangladesh Railways; as well as a Japanese... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

30 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 30, 2007

Course MaterialsBASIX Harvard Business School Case 207-099 BASIX, an Indian microfinance corporation, must decide whether to continue to sell weather insurance to its clients. A brand-new financial product, weather insurance pays if... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Blue Haven Initiative: The PEGAfrica Investment

By: Vikram S. Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Amram Migdal

This case examines Blue Haven Initiative (BHI), an impact investing fund and family office, and one of its investments, PEGAfrica (PEG). BHI founder Liesel Pritzker Simmons’ motivations for using her family wealth to start a family office focused on impact investing,... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Family Office; Development; International Development; International Development Investing; Development Fund; Sustainability; Solar Energy; Solar; Pay As You Go; PAYG; MFI; Social Venture; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Economics; Development Economics; Energy; Energy Conservation; Energy Sources; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Assets; Asset Pricing; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Venture Capital; Cash; Cash Flow; Currency; Currency Exchange Rate; Equity; Private Equity; Financial Instruments; Debt Securities; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Microfinance; International Finance; Investment; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Price; Geography; Geographic Location; Emerging Markets; Ownership; Ownership Stake; Private Ownership; Social Enterprise; Value; Valuation; Value Creation; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Green Technology Industry; Africa; United States

January 2025
Case

Untapped Global: Financing Africa's Missing Middle

By: Raymond Kluender and Emanuele Colonnelli

In November 2024, Jim Chu, founder and CEO of Untapped Global, faced mounting internal tensions over the company’s strategic direction. Untapped had developed a data-driven revenue-based financing (RBF) model to address the “missing middle” problem—the $5.2 trillion... View Details