> Posted by Kelley Mesa
Elisabeth Rhyne shares her “Lessons for Microfinance” in today’s Huffington Post…
Lately the microfinance industry has come under a lot of scrutiny, but media coverage doesn’t reveal the full picture. A recent New York Times article painted microfinance an industry overrun by big banks that charge eye-popping interest rates.First, a couple of misperceptions have to be cleared up. Yes, interest rates on microloans are higher than on conventional loans, but the trend is actually down, not up. For the past decade average rates around the world have been falling. They need to continue in that direction to make credit more affordable to more clients. Second, it is not the so-called banking giants that dominate the field. The players making the biggest impact are dedicated microfinance institutions (MFIs) that started out as non-profits with a strong social mission and become regulated financial institutions or banks so they could scale up to carry their mission to more people… Read more »