Investing in Microfinance -- Tue, 1/18, 7pm in Palo Alto

Next tuesday evening, I'm co-hosting a dinner event & presentation in Palo Alto on Investing in Microfinance: Using Capital & Entrepreneurship to Solve Global Poverty. The event is a fundraiser of sorts, but it's also intended as an awareness & education primer on microfinance and microcredit lending. If you're interested in this subject or would like to learn more, RSVP via the evite link above and come join us.

The main group behind the event is Unitus, and they're doing great work around the world to spur growth in the microfinance industry. You may have heard of the Grameen Bank, a microfinance institution ("MFI") started in Bangladesh in the mid-70's that provides billions of dollars in capital to millions of entrepreneurs among the working poor. Well, Unitus operates like a venture capital firm to identify and help fund growing MFIs, with the goal of creating many more self-sustaining MFIs like Grameen.

The interesting part about Unitus is that they aren't just accepting donations like a traditional non-profit, they're also creating some innovative for-profit debt & equity investment in microfinance. I gave Unitus a decent chunk of money (for me, anyway) back in December, but i'm also planning to invest a larger amount of capital with them as well.

I'm always interested is market-based solutions that benefit society, and this is one that really sounds like a winner.

If you'd like more info, here are some additional links of interest:
- www.Unitus.com
- What is Microfinance?
- Profiles in Microfinance Success

Comments

[marc]

How has that investment paid off so far?