Weekly Review April 30-May 4

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Christina

Every week, we read dozens of articles on our favorite industry trends and relate to our investment thesis. We pick the most popular trend from the week and share the top articles along with our thoughts.

In a follow up to our recent post on financial inclusion, this week we turned to our favorite industry blogs and mainstream media to see what they’re saying this week on the topic. We’ve included posts and articles from CGAP, Microfinance Focus, CNN, and the GSMA’s Mobile Money for the Unbanked Blog.

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The Benefits of Informal Savings Groups

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Christina

Over 70% of people in emerging markets do not have a formal bank account (Goss, Mas, Radcliffe, & Stark, 2011). Despite exclusion from what we consider formal banking, many people in emerging markets have figured out their own ways to save money. An increasing number of people are participating in informal savings groups.

Our goal in this series is to explore the effectiveness of savings groups. In this post, we’ll explain how they work and what the existing benefits are. Next week, we’ll explore their inefficiencies and ways the increasing availability of mobile money services can provide the opportunity to make them more effective.
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Weekly Review April 21-27

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Christina

This week’s topic is solar power in emerging markets. Headlines included updates on India’s National Solar Mission and the practical use of solar power on-the-ground in Africa.
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