I've been thinking about this for the last few days, and I'd love your contributions to this thought experiment. It seems to me, I've only come across 3 types of business models for serving low-income/impoverished people.
National
Complicating the ability of co-ops to raise capital outside their membership is the fact that co-ops operate outside of the public stock market – in part based on the historical recognition of the primacy of members.
I had the opportunity to attend the Social Investment Organization Conference in June and a few things struck me about the traditional investment industry's potential relationship with co-operatives.
Thank you! We have had a great response from organizations and individuals interested in providing content to the Guide to Social Finance. This is a dynamic process and we invite you to shape the guide’s development as we go along.
In the past two years, the popular press, for good reason, has railed against the lack of regulation, systemic failures, and rampant conflicts of interest that led to the recent financial crisis. Securitized products, and derivatives of those products, have been featured prominently as analysts, academics, and legislators assign blame for the bank failures and the market turmoil of the past two years.
Jeff Mowatt on Three Business Models for the Bottom Billion
Sep 03, 2010