Underlying the financial and economic jargon of microlending, poverty alleviation, financial management, financial services for the poor, what ACCION does is to set up poor people to earn sustainable income so that they themselves can create earning assets that will benefit not only themselves but their community as well.
ACCION has 6.2 million success stories.
This post is the last of the series of the b5media Business Channel Great Blog Off! Find out more about the Blog Off at http://www.b5media.com/b5media-blogs-for-a-cause.
If you want your $$$$ to have the maximum & optimum effect on poor people, donations are accepted at www.accion.org/b5media. Donations are tax …read more

A typical microfinance client has no physical or financial assets. His only assets are his manhours and his dreams. He has no credit standing. He has little education. He has no job and very few employers will want to hire him. His hope lies in a microbusiness, but he has no capital.
This is where ACCION comes in: by providing small business loans –through its worldwide network of MicroFinance Institutions– to people of no assets (average loan size in Latin America & the Caribbean: $954, Africa: $922, Asia: $85). ACCION …read more

Credit methodology lies at the heart of microfinance and its quality is one of the most determinant factors for the efficiency, impact and profitability of a microfinance institution (MFI). Credit methodology is comprised of a host of activities involved in lending including sales, client selection and screening, the application and approval process, repayment monitoring, and delinquency and portfolio management. It is also linked to the institutional structure and human resource policies such as hiring, training and compensating staff. Getting the credit methodology and product mix right is therefore one of the most demanding as well as rewarding challenges MFIs …read more

PortaCredit technology serves to:
* Decrease paper use;
* Improve data entry;
* Improve info flows;
* Increase efficiency;
* Improve loan recovery;
* Provide faster service;
* Allow more poor microentrepreneurs access to financial services and increase loan officer caseload productivity.
Since its inception in 1999, PortaCredit has evolved into a highly specialized and functional tool. The synchronization between the PDAs and PCs and the interface between the PCs and the MFI’s central MIS has progressed as improvements have been made to the available technology. PortaCredit can now accommodate multiple loan products and the new platform incorporates various credit scoring tools, further contributing to the MFIs’ …read more

Loan officers in the field use personal digital assistants (PDAs) to gather loan application information directly from poor borrowers and transmit or download it to the institution’s MIS. The software application can be designed according to the needs of a given MFI. Typically, it will include client contact information, financial data, credit history and other business data. Field coordinators and program managers are able to receive synchronized information or download it to office-based PC’s, which are equipped with the complete loan portfolio management software. By collecting information and synchronizing it to the main office from the field, loan officer …read more

ACCION’s financial literacy program helps people improve their ability to manage their personal and household finances and become informed and effective consumer of financial services. Financial literacy is a key component to expand and enhance the financial services available to the poor beyond credit to include important asset building tools such as savings and insurance. In addition, financial literacy is a critical component of consumer protection, given that knowledgeable clients more effectively use financial services and avoid the risks of over-indebtedness.
If you want your $$$$ to have the maximum & optimum effect on poor people, donations are accepted at www.accion.org/b5media. …read more

The need for economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa is vital as over 40% of the population, or 300 million people, live on less than $1 a day. A steady path to development and true poverty alleviation has continued to elude Africa as this region is home to two-thirds of the world’s 48 poorest countries. Africa’s largely rural population and its agriculturally intensive economic structure require microfinance organizations to develop new and innovative ways to expand and tackle poverty. This expansion is acutely important as currently only 0.35% of Africans are MFI clients. As the African microfinance industry grows and develops, …read more

ACCION’s Latin American and Caribbean partner MFIs offer a full range of financial services to 2.37 million microentrepreneurs and their families – from housing loans and savings accounts to microinsurance and remittances – enabling MFIs to provide the services their clients require and, ultimately, helping millions of poor people work their way out of poverty.
If you want your $$$$ to have the maximum & optimum effect on poor people, donations are accepted at www.accion.org/b5media. Donations are tax deductible.
This post is part of the b5media Business Channel Great Blog Off! Find out more about the Blog Off here: http://www.b5media.com/b5media-blogs-for-a-cause.
ACCION …read more

ACCION is able to create an ever-widening ripple of poor people microbusinesses by enabling partner institutions to reach significant numbers of low-income businesses and households with financial services tailored to their needs. ACCION’s field teams work closely with MFI partners, providing them with strategic and tactical guidance on designing, implementing and strengthening new microfinance products and services.
If you want your $$$$ to have the maximum & optimum effect on poor people, donations are accepted at www.accion.org/b5media. Donations are tax deductible.
This post is part of the b5media Business Channel Great Blog Off! Find out more about the Blog Off …read more

ACCION is able to create an ever-widening ripple of poor people microbusinesses by providing “a full range of technical assistance and management services, as well as investment and governance support to help financial institutions build institutional capacity and financial strength in order to serve low-income households on a broad scale. Over the past 35 years,ACCION has helped to build and strengthen some of the most successful microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the world.”
If you want your $$$$ to have the maximum & optimum effect on poor people, donations are accepted at www.accion.org/b5media. Donations are tax deductible.
This post is part of …read more