Coming Out of the Closet – a Review of the State of the Campaign Report 2013
Readers of this blog will have noticed that I have veiled respect for Larry Reed. He’s the head of the MicroCredit Summit Campaign, a spin organisation that one would expect to dwarf even Grameen...
View ArticleMicrofinance, Gender and an Interesting Potential Confrontation
There’s a fascinating, if not slightly obscure conference coming up in Boston shortly. Ominously referred to as “Extreme Inclusion”, it is hosted by the Fletcher School, Tufts University. What...
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Truelift – the Microfinance Wonderbra
What is “Truelift”? What pops into your mind? I initially thought it might be a rival to the Wonderbra; a new botox treatment; an elevator for the elderly or handicapped, perhaps? In fact it is the...
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(Critical) Microfinance Book Reviews
INTRODUCTION A reading list produced by the Center for Financial Inclusion (aka Accion) was recently re-Tweeted. It is boldly entitled “5 Great Books About Microfinance and How the Poor Use Money”. The...
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Disguised Mediocrity – the quest for POSITIVE impact results at Compartamos
[This is a detailed review of an academic paper. For a summary of this blog-post, click here]. A recent paper has attracted attention, likely to garner support from microcredit supporters. Firstly, it...
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Trouble Brewing in Peru? MiBanco in Dire Straits
I was surprised more fuss wasn’t made of Fitch’s October 2013 downgrade of Grupo ACP – the main shareholder of Peru’s flagship microfinance institution (MFI): MiBanco. “The downgrade [] is driven by...
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Incestuous Relationships, Spin & PR in Microfinance
My friend Beth Rhyne (of Smart, CFI and Accion) recently posted a bizarre article on the CFI blog (i.e. on her blog) in which she pleads for money. The premise is that the infrastructure of the...
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Microfinance Reality Check
In 2009 I bought a 5-year bond issued by IFFIm – the International Finance Facility for Immunisation. I invested £5000 and received £5810 a few days ago (with accumulated interest). Not the best return...
View ArticleSmart or Crafty?
Smart Campaign rarely speak in public. They lecture, but dislike questions. This is a rational response given their flawed certification model, which has just managed to praise one of the world’s most...
View ArticleGenerous or Excessive Salaries at Accion?
I was scanning the 2014 Charity CEO Compensation Guide published by Charity Navigator. It’s an interesting read. Needless to say the numbers were substantially higher than what I earn, and occasionally...
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