{"id":41612,"date":"2016-09-07T16:04:17","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T20:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging21.finca.org\/why-finca\/finca-challenge"},"modified":"2024-11-04T02:00:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T07:00:39","slug":"finca-challenge","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/finca.org\/en-ca\/who-we-serve\/finca-challenge","title":{"rendered":"The Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alleviating Poverty through Lasting Solutions<\/h2>\n

Around the world, three billion people survive on less than $2.50 per day. They live without the financial tools and basic services that enable equal progress toward better lives. Without the income to sustain themselves or the ability to access life-improving products, their quality of life remains poor. FINCA International tackles this challenge through market-based solutions, including microfinance<\/a> and social enterprise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Living Financially Excluded<\/h2>\n

The Problem<\/h3>\n

Individuals living in some of the world\u2019s most challenging economies have long been unbanked. In fact, 1.7 billion people globally do not have access to formal financial services; 56 percent of them are women. More than 200 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging economies lack adequate financing to thrive and grow. Without access to financial services, the world’s poor struggle to start or expand a business, save for a child’s education, pay for health care, plan for the future or cope with unexpected emergencies.<\/p>\n

Delivering Solutions<\/h3>\n

Financial inclusion<\/a> is a key enabler to reducing poverty and increasing opportunity. Since 1984<\/a>, FINCA has enabled bottom-up growth in markets that others have found too difficult to reach or uneconomical to serve. We do so by offering access to small loans, savings accounts and other financial services<\/a> that low-income people otherwise would not have. FINCA serves its microfinance clients through a combination of brick-and-mortar branches, banking agents and digital financial service tools. This hybrid business model allows FINCA to maintain personal relationships and trust with clients while reaching deeper into the bottom of the economic pyramid.<\/p>\n

\"FINCA-Microfinance\"