Resources

Microfinance Insitutions

  • Kiva.org The “ebay” of microfinance, where SEG made its initial loans.
  • The Grameen bank The first microfinance institution whose founder, Professor Muhammad Yunus, was the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
  • Shared Interest A different take on microfinance from South Africa, funding over 900,000 people with the help of US and South African banks.
  • The Small Enterprise Foundation Another South African microfinance institution, which has two programs:  Both targeted at the poor, but one targets the “very poor,” those households in the bottom 30%.
  • FINCA International An international MFI based in Washington DC with programs all over the world.

Social Entrepreneurship and Global Poverty Organizations

  • Ashoka Foundation A global social entrepreneur foundation that funds “Ashoka Fellows” around the world. Look there for volunteer or internship opportunities.
  • RESULTS A strong advocate for Microfinance around the world, RESULTS also works on several other global poverty issues, including education, foreign aid and health. They also have a domestic program working on similar issues.
  • The Acumen Fund Working off the idea of “patient capital,” the Acumen Fund invests in social entrepreneurs around the world to replicate and spread social change.
  • The Microcredit Summit Campaign First started in 1997, it brings together people from around the world to advocate for and spread microcredit as a tool to end global poverty.

Social Entrepreneurship/ Microfinance Websites

  • MixMarket.org A resource for microfinancers, allowing them to learn of worldwide NGOs which organize microfinance loans as well as general information about microfinancing.
  • Microfinance Gateway A large website including resources and publications on microfinance, organization information, and other news, events, and opportunities involving microfinance.
  • The Open Book Blog Maintained by David Roodman at the Center for Global Development, the leading blog on microfinance discussions.
  • Gumball University An SEG partnering organization, this blog brings together student from across the country to discuss social entrepreneurship. There is also an online course on social entrepreneurship that presents best practices on the subject.
  • The Acumen Fund Blog The official blog of the social entrepreneurship organization.
  • Aid Watch A blog about making foreign aid more accountable and grassroots solutions to poverty.

Books About Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship

  • “Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty” by Muhammad Yunus
  • “The Economics of Microfinance” by Beatriz Armendariz deAghion and Jonathan Morduch
  • “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas” by David Bornstein
  • “Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid,” by CK Prahalad.
  • “Africa rising : How 900 million African consumers offer more than you think,” by Vijay Mahajan

Further Reading on Global Poverty

  • “Portfolios of the Poor” by Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford and Orlanda Ruthven
  • “The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities of Our Time” by Jeffrey Sachs
  • “Development as Freedom” by Amartya Sen
  • “The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good” by William Easterly
  • “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century” by Thomas Friedman
  • “Human Development Report 2005: International cooperation at a crossroads”

Resources for Board Members

If you are an SEG board member, you can click here to access the documents page.