Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Microfinance

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Several of my students have the opportunity to see Muhammad Yunus speak at Accenture this coming Monday evening. He will be speaking on the topic of social businesses, about which he published a book earlier this year. Recently on NPR's Planet Money, there was a moderated discussion between Muhammad Yunus, Yikram Akula (founder of SKS Microfinance), and Mary Ellen Iskenderian (Women's World Banking) about the changing nature of microfinance. The discussion focused on the role of profit-making in microfinance businesses, in particular whether it is OK for private, external investors to earn a profit from the poor through microlending. I'm not sure how I come down on the issue and I look forward to hearing whether my students have developed an opinion on it after hearing him speak (if he discusses it).

Here's the link.