Microfinance in Developed Economies: When Passion Meets Money

Microfinance – the financial model developed to kickstart small businesses in emerging economies – also has a valuable place in the developed world. A new report from the Centre for Social Impact shows how hundreds of financially excluded Australians who had been unable to raise funds by traditional means have used microfinance to unleash their entrepreneurial smarts, creating a wide variety of enterprises and jobs for themselves and others. The program, run by National Australia Bank, shows remarkable things can happen when passion meets capital.