In December, Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded received the Nobel Peace Prize for their pioneering contributions to the development of microfinance. The Grameen Bank, and the microfinance movement as a whole, began with small-scale experiments some 30 years ago. Since then the field has grown and evolved remarkably. The awarding of the Prize is an opportune moment to reflect on what the future holds for financial services for the poor. What changes will technology bring? Which new products ought to be pursued, and for whom? How great is the threat of backlash against high interest rates?
Leading thinkers in the field--including Alex Counts, Founder, President, and CEO of Grameen Foundation, Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, Elisabeth Rhyne, Senior Vice President of ACCION International and Damian von Stauffenberg, Founder and CEO of MicroRate--addressed these, and other timely issues. David Roodman, Research Fellow at Center for Global Development, served as moderator of this discussion.
*Watch video clips from the event:
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Related Materials:
- Elisabeth Rhyne and Maria Otero, Microfinance through the Next Decade: Visioning the Who, What, Where, When and How
- Elisabeth Rhyne, "Eight Business Model Breakthroughs for Microfinance" (slides).
- Elizabeth Littlefield, Brigit Helms, and David Porteous, Financial Inclusion 2015: Four Scenarios For The Future Of Microfinance
- David Roodman and Uzma Qureshi, Microfinance as Business
