GROUP LENDIND

[rrciri at neda.net ()]

Dear friends
As far as I understand one of the distinctive features of
micro credit programs is group lending methodology(Actually what I
think is that micro credit is synanymous with group lending). Now
suppose that a community is more individually orinted and has
no/low capacity for collective/group action. Is it possible to
initiate a micro credit program which is orinted toward individual
lending without its usual emphasis on group development/deployment ?
What can substitute peer pressure and group pressure? Do you have any
experince of such programs?I would appreciate your views and insights.
Many, Many Thanks
Mitra Moazzami
Rural Research Center
Tehran _ Iran



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[jfriedman at ised.org]

Mitra:

If you are addressing your query to microenterprise programs in the United
States, then you need to be aware that the group or peer lending approach
is not the preferred approach. There are many reasons for that, one of
which is that it has been difficult to re-create the same kind of mutual
dependency that exists among lending circles in the Third World. Peer
lending represents probably less than five percent of all lending activity
by microenterprise organizations.

Further, in the U.S., microcredit is not synonymous with peer lending. In
fact, micro-credit is not the preferred term because it assumes that credit
is the issue. Many low-income entrepreneurs do not initially need loan
capital to start their service-based businesses. Indeed, over half of the
1,200 businesses we helped start didn't require capital initially. What
they do need is training and technical assistance to develop a business
plan and sound financial projections. At the policy level, the field is
working to create new funding sources at the federal level to provide more
support for training and technical assistance for micro-entrepreneurs,
especially low-income ones. Hope this helps.
================================================== =====================
Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED)
1901 Broadway, Suite 313
Iowa City, Iowa 52240
Voice: 319-338-2331 Ext. 24 Fax: 319-338-5824

Jason J. Friedman, Vice-President
Email: jfriedman@ised.org

1998 Winner of the Presidential Award for
Excellence in Microenterprise Development




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[ninacs at ivic.qc.ca]

Bonjour,

Regarding Jason J. Friedman's statement that, in the U.S., microcredit is
not synonymous with peer lending and that peer lending represents probably
less than five percent of all lending activity by micro-enterprise
organizations, I would like to know if this is a trend. The latest figures
that I have are from a report published by The Aspen Institute, Washington,
D.C., in 1996, "The Practice of Microenterprise in the U.S.: Strategies,
Costs, and Effectiveness", by Elaine Edgcomb, Joyce Klein, and Peggy Clark.
This report indicates that of 266 "practitioner programs", 193 provided
credit services, 51 of which (19% of the agencies) used group lending
methods. If this is down to 5%, this seems to be a significant shift. Can
anyone refer me to a more up-to-date study?

Merci beaucoup!

Bill Ninacs


William A. Ninacs
C.P. 92
Victoriaville (Québec)
G6P 6S4

(819) 758-7401
télécopieur : (819) 758-4822

répondez à l'adresse suivante, s'il-vous-plaît : ninacs@ivic.qc.ca
Please reply to: ninacs@ivic.qc.ca




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[jfriedman at ised.org]

Bill:

The 1998 Aspen Directory of Microenterprise Programs will be out soon. I am
willing to bet the number of peer lending programs has decreased since
1996. The 5% was an estimate. Thanks for pointing that out. Also, Aspen
is silent on the effectiveness of these programs vis-a-vis individual
direcr lending.

At 01:05 PM 5/23/99 -0400, William A. Ninacs wrote:
>Bonjour,
>
>Regarding Jason J. Friedman's statement that, in the U.S., microcredit is
>not synonymous with peer lending and that peer lending represents probably
>less than five percent of all lending activity by micro-enterprise
>organizations, I would like to know if this is a trend. The latest figures
>that I have are from a report published by The Aspen Institute, Washington,
>D.C., in 1996, "The Practice of Microenterprise in the U.S.: Strategies,
>Costs, and Effectiveness", by Elaine Edgcomb, Joyce Klein, and Peggy Clark.
>This report indicates that of 266 "practitioner programs", 193 provided
>credit services, 51 of which (19% of the agencies) used group lending
>methods. If this is down to 5%, this seems to be a significant shift. Can
>anyone refer me to a more up-to-date study?
>
>Merci beaucoup!
>
>Bill Ninacs
>
>
>William A. Ninacs
>C.P. 92
>Victoriaville (Québec)
>G6P 6S4
>
>(819) 758-7401
>télécopieur : (819) 758-4822
>
>répondez à l'adresse suivante, s'il-vous-plaît : ninacs@ivic.qc.ca
>Please reply to: ninacs@ivic.qc.ca
>
>
>
>


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[courtj at globalnet.co.uk]

Dear Friends

I indent at >



>Dear friends
>As far as I understand one of the distinctive features of
>micro credit programs is group lending methodology(Actually what I
>think is that micro credit is synanymous with group lending). Now
>suppose that a community is more individually orinted and has
>no/low capacity for collective/group action. Is it possible to
>initiate a micro credit program which is orinted toward individual
>lending without its usual emphasis on group development/deployment ?

>j Try setting up a LETs !

>What can substitute peer pressure and group pressure? Do you have any
>experince of such programs?I would appreciate your views and insights.
>Many, Many Thanks
>Mitra Moazzami
>Rural Research Center
>Tehran _ Iran




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[aventura at planetbank.or]

--------------------------PlaNet Finance-----------------------

UPDATE - AGENDA

This announcement answers a few questions that are often
asked and intends to clear up a few points about
PlaNet Finance's evolutions

http://www.planetfinance.org

-------------------------------------------

PlaNet Finance - www.planetfinance.org - is a new international
not-for-profit organisation contributing to the development of microfinance
by using the new information technology and particularly the Internet.

PlaNet Finance provides its support to organisations that deliver financial
services to the poor. PlaNet Finance's direct clients are microfinance
institutions and all other organisations that provide the poor and the
destitute with banking services.

PlaNet Finance aims to offer microfinance institutions as well as
governments, that wish to promote micro-credits in their countries, all
resources which they may need while using new information technology,
especially the Internet and multimedia.

In the framework of PlaNet Rating, PlaNet Finance's experts have developed a
rating methodology - G.I.R.A.F.E. - that gave rise to a number of missions
in the field carried out in Benin, Haiti, Albania, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Other missions are scheduled to take place the next months.

At present, PlaNet Finance is working on the creation of PlaNet Bank whish
role will be to offer financing to microfinance institutions. Till all
juridical questions concerning the legal status of PlaNet Bank are resolved,
it is PlaNet Finance that looks into feasibility of different projects. If
they are judged valuable, PlaNet Finance and its partners organise their
financing (Rate from 10 to 12%).

In Sept. 1999, PlaNet Finance will initiate Planet System that will be
offering Websites design services, providing Internet access as well as
hardware for microfinance institutions.

In October 1999, after a pilot stage that will take place from July to
September, an on-line microfinance-training centre, PlaNet University, will
be launched.

To start from June 1999, specialists in micro-credits will be able to
consult PlaNet Library, a new electronic microfinance library.

Please contact us at contact@planetbank.org to register in the World's
Microfinance Atlas from now on, you may as well register later on our
Website (opening July 99). Our Microfinance database already contains more
than 1500 institutions.

Please feel free to contact us to receive more information about PlaNet
Finance and its services.

Arnaud


----------------------
Arnaud Ventura
PlaNet Finance
aventura@planetbank.org
Directeur Général
tel 33 (0)1 42 66 13 03
fax 33 (0)1 42 66 06 70
http://www.planetfinance.org



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