{"id":42718,"date":"2016-06-22T15:04:42","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T19:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging21.finca.org\/uncategorized-en-ca\/creating-social-impact-through-business-innovation"},"modified":"2024-11-04T02:07:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T07:07:56","slug":"creating-social-impact-through-business-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finca.org\/en-ca\/creating-social-impact-through-business-innovation","title":{"rendered":"Creating Social Impact through Business Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In early June, more than a thousand people convened in Washington, DC for the Social Innovation Summit <\/a>to discuss how business innovation can launch social transformation. I recently joined FINCA as the Vice President of Social Enterprise Innovation and was asked to participate with a panel of experts at the Summit to talk about the role of business innovation in creating social impact.<\/p>\n

FINCA knows this theme of business innovation for social impact well. For the last 30 years, we have been providing loans to entrepreneurs<\/a> across the world to create economic sparks that illuminate families and transform communities. As the communities we work in change, FINCA has changed, creating new loan products that best suit our customers. That is the power of using a business approach to solve social challenges. We are required to listen to the customer and provide services that he or she values and will pay for. \u00a0This feedback from the customer to FINCA gives us confidence that what we do is impactful.<\/p>\n

In order to expand our impact, our customers need more than our loans \u2013 they need access to better life-saving and life-changing products. As I\u2019ve seen on the ground across FINCA\u2019s network, our customers don\u2019t want handouts. They want to be able to buy products that will enhance their lives \u2013 they want to choose.<\/p>\n

Approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide, and more than 200 million in Africa alone, live without access to electricity. Many rely on kerosene lamps which bring harmful pollutants into the home and frequently lead to burns and fires. Access to solar lamps<\/a> enables a young girl or boy in a village without electricity to study into the evening. A solar light also allows a young girl to feel safe if she has to run an errand for her family after the sun goes down. How can FINCA help poor households in Africa acquire quality solar products such as solar lamps? We have reach into these communities and we can create installment payment schemes for families who cannot afford the product outright.<\/p>\n

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