Clever Capital for Microfinance Institutions at the Bottom of the Pyramid

This paper describes the mission, vision, and business plan of Interest for Change, an online institutional microfinance marketplace.

Interest for Change aims to reduce poverty by widening access to finance. Its vision is to become a leading global facilitator of lending to medium-sized MFIs. Interest for Change will:

• Connect social lenders and medium-sized MFIs through an online platform;
• Create a market for loans by matching borrowers demand for loans with lenders supply of capital;
• Encourage competitive lending terms for lenders and borrowers, and expanded access to financial services for the poorest of the poor;
• Allow lenders to access its online platform and submit offers easily to a large number of MFIs;
• Allow borrowers to set their own interest rate and get a quick quote from the market;
• Solve problems of transaction cost and risk diversification.

Interest for Change offers a unique capacity development model that uses local knowledge to support the growth of medium-sized MFIs, by connecting small MFIs with large ones. This cost-effective and scalable model will make its profit from transaction fees.