Unitus is accelerating access to life-changing financial services for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid – the 3 billion people living on less than two dollars a day. Since the 1970’s, microfinance has proven to be a powerful poverty alleviation tool. By leveraging microfinance loans averaging between $50-$150 micro-entrepreneurs are able to start or expand their small businesses, create a sustainable source of income, and begin to lift their families out of poverty. In reality, microfinance is one of the only development tools with the potential to be financially self-sustaining. However, even after thirty years of industry effort, some 80% of the working poor (400 million families) doesn’t have access to microfinance services. At current growth rates, this vast gap will not be closed for decades. Unitus started in 2001 because the microfinance industry was still so far from reaching its potential. Unitus helps the microfinance industry grow to reach more of the world’s working poor. It partners with the highest-potential MFIs in the world that share their vision of rapid growth. It recruits leading financial and consulting professionals from the for-profit world to help guide their partners’ growth and business development. It provides high-impact financing, consulting, and technology tools to “supersize” the MFI partners so they reach at least ten times their current audience. By 2007, their sixteen partners have empowered over 2.4 million micro-entrepreneurs throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Website: http://unitus.com/
