Broadening Financial Inclusion Borders in Bangladesh

Claire KellyAsia and the Pacific, Field Team Blogs, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners

Spotlight on WPF’s Bold, New Partnerships According to Women’s World Banking, “Women in Bangladesh have the highest-ever rates of literacy and employment, and the country’s economy is growing. Financial inclusion now stands at more than 50 percent, nearly doubling in the past few years. But the financial inclusion gender gap …

Babban Gona Partnership Funds Farmers in Rural Nigeria

Brian DoeField Team Blogs, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners, Sub-Saharan Africa

In Nigeria, where Whole Foods Market sources ginger, Whole Planet Foundation offers scale capital to the agriculture social enterprise Babban Gona. Babban Gona is working to make rural farming profitable for smallholder farmers in northern Nigeria. Their founder, Kola Masha, started the business to engage young Nigerians that have increasingly …

Ultra-Poor Graduation Partnership to Reach 4000 in Burundi

Zoe SoField Team Blogs, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners, News, Sub-Saharan Africa

Whole Planet Foundation was founded to reach people living in poverty around the globe where Whole Foods Market sources products. We are excited to announce our new partnership with Concern Worldwide in Burundi to support their Terintambwe program, which provides case management services to ultra-poor households so they have opportunities …

aflore microfinance

Aflore and WPF Help Small Businesses Blossom in Colombia

JP KloningerField Team Blogs, Foundation News, Latin America and the Caribbean, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners

Whole Planet Foundation was created to support communities worldwide where Whole Foods Market sources products.  Flowers for Whole Foods Market stores across the US, Canada, and the UK, along with many other products, are sourced in large quantities from Colombia — so while it’s perhaps a bit of a happy …

ID Ghana Clients

Giving Thanks with the Field Officer Award: Africa and the Middle East

Whole Planet FoundationField Officer Awards, Field Team Blogs, Microfinance Partners

During this holiday season, our team is thankful to our network of microfinance institutions, the implementing partners who administer the microloans Whole Planet Foundation funds. These partners employ staff members who serve microcredit clients, sometimes traveling miles by foot or motorbike to reach some of the least-served entrepreneurs around the …

Cash Shortages Create Problems in Zimbabwe

Zoe SoField Team Blogs, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners, Sub-Saharan Africa, Travel

A few months ago, I visited WPF partner Thrive Zimbabwe with Daniel Zoltani, Whole Planet Foundation’s Global Director of Programs. We met many micro-entrepreneurs who had taken loans from Thrive for their small businesses. Some grew mushrooms to sell in the market and to stores. Others traveled to South Africa …

honduras farmers

Farming + Finance for a Path out of Poverty

JP KloningerField Team Blogs, Foundation News, Latin America and the Caribbean, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners

At Whole Planet Foundation, we hold that microfinance is not a “silver bullet,” but an important component in a series of factors which can permanently lift people, families, and communities out of poverty.  Additionally, because people near the base of the economic pyramid often rely on subsistence farming or basic …

staff at BRAC myanmar standing in front of the branch office

Microfinance vs. Informal Finance: A Fair Comparison?

Claire KellyAsia and the Pacific, Field Team Blogs, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners

If microfinance is so effective, then why hasn’t the industry put informal moneylenders out of business? This is the question that a recent paper, Microfinance for poverty alleviation: Do transnational initiatives overlook fundamental questions of competition and intermediation? in Transnational Corporations and accompanying blog set out to find the answer …

KOMIDA’s Social Performance Management Journey

Claire KellyAsia and the Pacific, Field Team Blogs, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners

KOMIDA: Investing in a Future without Poverty in Indonesia As part of Whole Planet Foundation’s annual due diligence visits to our microfinance partners around the globe, we observe the presence or absence of “responsible finance indicators” which shed light on how our partners are serving the world’s poorest people. Many …

Whole Planet Foundation and Donors Visit Harlem Entrepreneurs Supported by Grameen America

Joy StoddardMicrofinance Partners, Supplier Partnerships, The United States

Whole Planet Foundation has funded microfinance partner Grameen America since 2007, contributing $4.7 million to date to alleviate poverty in the United States in 14 cities including New York. Grameen America is dedicated to helping entrepreneurial women who live in poverty build businesses to generate income for themselves and their …