Friday, February 27, 2009

favelas benefitting from microcredit

The Financial Times profiles an Internet Cafe and Video Store in Heliópolis, the largest favela in São Paulo. The business started with a $100 loan from Banco Real, and has expanded through a succession of new loans totaling $12,000.

It's a huge success, but the FT argues that most banks in Brazil have not known how to enter the favelas and give loans to informal businesses, which often would rather pay high interest rates with low monthly payments than the standard products offered by the banks.

1 comment:

dailymostly said...

I read similiarly of a woman in Boliva--South America's poorest nation--who was able to buy her home and land after building a small business with credit from Pro Mujer, a microfinance institution. The initial loan was $17.