Scott Loftesness
Dave McClure hosted a group dinner last night in Palo Alto for a number of us to learn more about Unitus, a microfinance accelerator based in Redmond, WA.
What’s a microfinance accelerator you ask?
Unitus is all about assisting existing and successful microfinance institutions (MFI’s) in developing countries accelerate their impact. MFI’s lend small amounts to the self-employed poor in these countries to provide them the capital to get them on a path out of the poverty trap.
The numbers are compelling – of the roughly 6 billion people on this planet, half of them live in poverty on less than $2 per day. Microcredit loans are the fuel that helps these self-employed poor bootstrap themselves up the economic ladder.
Unitus is focused on helping MFI’s accelerate their impact, providing them the resources (financial, technical and expertise) required to do so. By enabling the MFI’s to accelerate their success, their impact on the self-employed poor is amplified. It’s a beautiful idea.
As Dave said last night, “this is a solvable problem.”
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