Nuru International, a US-based outfit that seeks to empower poor people in the Kuria district of Kenya through access to clean water, food, healthcare, education and microfinance, recently began using the Mifos 2.0 cloud-based management information system (MIS), a software tool designed for microfinance institutions (MFIs), and M-PESA, a cellphone-to-cellphone money management service, to increase access to basic financial services for rural households in Kuria.
Vivian Lu, community economic development program manager for Nuru, discussed the challenges that Nuru hopes the two technologies will address as follows: “one of the biggest problems we face when it comes to finance and banking for the extreme rural poor is how to disburse loans and payments to our farmers, we don’t want to give large amounts of cash to them because they have to cover long distances on foot, have no secure place to keep the cash, and robbery and theft are real concerns.”
Nuru, which emphasizes savings in its microfinance programs, uses the combined Mifos and M-PESA technologies to allow its clients to perform basic banking functions such as making payments and deposits without having to visit a physical bank. This “branchless banking structure” reportedly reduces the cost for Nuru to achieve scale [1].
By John Howard-Smith, Research Associate
About Nuru International: Founded in 2008, Nuru International is a California-based social venture that seeks to empower poor people in Kuria, Kenya, through access to clean water, food, healthcare, education and microfinance. Nuru describes itself as a “general contractor” of sorts that works to identify the most effective local organizations in these categories and coordinating the timing of these efforts to maximize the impact on the community. For the calendar year 2009, Nuru International reported USD 1.31 million in total revenues and USD 1.4 million in total expenses. Additional financial information is unavailable as Nuru does not report to the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX).
[1] San Francisco Chronicle: “Press # to Escape Extreme Poverty: Savings-led Microfinance Mobile Banking in Kenya with M-PESA and Nuru International”, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/02/24/prweb5103434.DTL
MicroCapital.org story, December 27, 2010: “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Foundation Releases Updated Microfinance Management Information Software (MIS) Mifos 2.0”, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-grameen-foundation-releases-updated-microfinance-management-information-software-mis-mifos-2-0/
MicroCapital.org story, November 11, 2010: “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Survey on Kenya’s M-PESA Mobile Transfer Service Shows Increased Impact in 2009”, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-survey-on-kenyas-m-pesa-mobile-transfer-service-shows-increased-impact-in-2009/
MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: Nuru International, https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Nuru+International
Browse the MicroCapital Universe and add your entry to the wiki at https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/
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