Microfinance may have come of age; however it is serving its purpose of creating independent communities. Evolving to newer models, a new approach to encourage social entrepreneurship is the MicroConsignment Model (MCM). Originally conceived by Greg Van Kirk, this system works on consignments, keeping the risk of investment largely on the lender; the investment here referred to as ‘sweat equity’. Potential entrepreneurs are given support in the form of training, products and services; therefore creating a platform for small entrepreneurs to materialize big business ideas.
Global philanthropists like George Haligua have realized that shifting focus from providing loans to encouraging micro entrepreneurs is an effective method in ensuring economic, health, social and environmental benefits in the long term. The main objective here is to improve community development not only by providing grants, but also in encouraging entrepreneurship ideas of people in developing countries like Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Mongolia.
What took microfinance eighteen years to achieve, the MCM model has achieved in five years; by replacing ‘Barefoot Bankers’ with ‘Evolving Entrepreneurs’!
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