Welcome!

This blog is intended to capture the development of my Digital Vision Fellowship project.
The Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship is a program funded by the Reuters Foundation and hosted at Stanford University. It brings together about a dozen mid-career technology professionals to learn about issues in the developing world and create technology-based solutions.

My project will be in the area of Microfinance, in particular Microcredit. Microcredit is the practice of loaning small amounts (possibly as little as $50) to people who would otherwise not have access to capital. Typically, these are women in the developing world with no collateral available.

I believe that technology can help to support Microfinance, and will focus on a couple of different general approaches.

1. Using technology to improve the efficiency of operations for a microfinance institution.


• Front office: Helping loan officers interact with borrowers


• Back office: Helping the banks track the loans and reconcile the books
  
2. Characterizing the loan portfolio in such a way that microcredit loans can be bundled and re-sold into larger credit markets, thereby making more money available for loans.

I'm still in the very early stages of research for this project, and am trying to get in touch with current microcredit practicioners to make sure that these hypotheses are correct. Please let me know if you or someone you know could help me with this critical stage of my research.