As a job creation and wealth producing strategy micro-finance is an incredible waste of time and energy. Such businesses operate on the fringe of the economy, have a low survival rate and a minimal impact on community economic health. The real need is centered in capital formation that finances businesses that can expect to yield operating incomes of $1MM or more, can actively enter the market and provide local substitutes for otherwise imported goods and services and pay employees a living wage with benefits so they can begin to build family wealth. Micro-finance is a form of affluent arrogance. Even Grameen recognizes the need to build businesses that are material, solve real community problems and are sustainable. Micro-finance is the moral equivalent of Mary kay Cosmetics and responsible foundations should either get serious about capital investment strategies or get out of the way.

Microfinance is certainly not a cure-all for global poverty, but I think calling it "an incredible waste of time" and "a form of affluent arrogance" may be a bit harsh. I think one of the field's biggest hurdles is the same one plaguing a lot of development groups: difficulty scaling up small, succesful grassroots projects. I'm pretty skeptical of the macroeconomic benefits of microfinance, but I think that at the very least, it has inspired a lot of social entreprenuers and nonprofits to look at development through the lens of empowerment as opposed to paternalism.

I don't mean to be the you know what in the punch bowl here but I happen to think - as someone who supported and ran micro-finance programs - that it ultimately is a form of paternalism to throw this out there to low income families and try to get away with calling it economic development. For all the effort and investment made in this space, it is way out of proportion with the economic benefits on either a short or long-term basis. Worse, if a low income person fails at a micro-enterprise they waste all their time in introspection about what they did wrong when in fact they were more likely to fail than succeed at such a business. Taking an eye dropper to the fire and feeling good about one's self for making a contribution is not a positive strategy in my opinion.

Microfinance works. Not every program works well, but the fundamentals are true and sustainable. Social business is the next step in the evolution of the method of sustainable economic development. It works also. Where it is imperfect, people like Muhammad Yunus are constantly trying new things to make it better. His motto has always been, try three things. If they don't work, try three more. Elegantly practical and completely aware that all success is a series of hit or miss experimentation, not theories exchanged in a classroom or on a website.

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Trying to access live blog, but no video or sound.

Hi Steve:

Our discsussions are text-based. We do not typically offer audio or video with these events. Thanks.