Grameen Foundation launches IT system for microcredit providers

Stuart Corner
Monday, 04 December 2006 07:14

IT Industry - Strategy

Grameen Foundation, the pioneering organisation providing micro-credit facilities in developing countries, has launched Mifos, a new initiative designed to "address the significant technology challenges facing microfinance practitioners worldwide by revolutionising the way they access and use technology to run their operations."
 

According to Grameen, "limited access to affordable, flexible and scalable information technology solutions that microfinance institutions can adapt as their needs evolve is one of the fundamental barriers to sustainable growth for the microfinance industry."

A 2004 survey by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor found that 46 percent of microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world were still using spreadsheets or manual systems to manage their portfolio and client information, severely hindering their efficiency and capacity to scale into the hundreds of thousands. Mifos aims to address this problem. It is an open source information management platform developed with the support of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs, Omidyar Network, Cisco Systems and other global partners.

According to Grameen, "With Mifos, a single technology 'backbone' that all microfinance institutions can access and adapt is now available. Its innovative open source model allows microfinance institutions to engage local IT specialists to customise Mifos and to provide ongoing support at local, affordable rates rather than being dependent on one vendor that may sit on the other side of the world." Beta-testing is already underway in India and Tunisia.

"We looked at off-the-shelf products and even considered having someone build a customised system for us," said Suresh Krishna, chief operating officer at the first Mifos beta partner, Grameen Koota, a microfinance organisation based in Bangalore that serves over 70,000 clients. "But, we didn't want to reinvent the wheel. Mifos gives us control of the development of our system and we are not at the mercy of any particular technology provider."

Omidyar Network, which is providing a $US1.5 million grant to support the initiative, is one of the many key corporate and funding organisations that have thrown their support behind Mifos. Cisco Systems was an early supporter and the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs has coordinated an effort to provide the expertise of a large number of Goldman Sachs technology professionals to help build Mifos. To date, Goldman Sachs people have committed over 1300 hours to this effort.

The Mifos initiative is being spearheaded by the Grameen Technology Centre, the Seattle-based division of Grameen Foundation that focuses on using technology solutions in the fight against global poverty. Launched in 2001, it is an outgrowth of the pioneering work done by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.