Programs

Microfinance Program

Microfinance is an innovative strategy for poverty alleviation in developing economies that provide financial services for the economically active poor.  Lauded by leading practitioners and scholars in the development field as revolutionary, microfinance aims to meet the vast global demand for small-scale loans, savings accounts, and other financial services.  Through the establishment of sustainable and profitable institutions, microfinance is widely recognized as the most powerful tool to help the very poor throughout the world to rise above poverty.  Established in 2005, the United Nations International Year of Microcredit, The Martindale Center’s Microfinance Program aims to foster and promote understanding of the development and impact of microfinance locally and globally.  To accomplish these goals, the Center supports faculty research and curriculum development and works closely with departments and programs throughout the university, including the Global Citizenship and Integrated Product Development program.  The Microfinance Program is one of the very few programs nationwide housed in a department of business and economics that is devoted to research and teaching of this pathbreaking approach to development.

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