Source: Banco Compartamos.
Original letter available here.
A Letter to Our Peers
Carlos Danel & Carlos Labarthe
WHAT WE BELIEVE IN
Since our IPO last year, the long standing discussions around the issue of the commercialization of microfinance have taken a renewed prominence. Many people in the industry have expressed concerns of where the IPO might take microfinance and others have praised it as a step forward in achieving a more inclusive financial sector. These are discussions we all in the industry should welcome, they are healthy ones. As the challenge to improve people’s lives is large, these debates can make a major contribution to find the best ways to undertake it. Through it all, we at Compartamos have been mostly silent, trying to listen to the concerns and perceptions of others. We believe that some of those discussions have led to very meaningful insights. However, we have struggled with finding a way to break our silence and participate in the debate constructively. This letter aims to do that. It aims to share with the industry the core beliefs that have led Compartamos to follow the road we have followed. We are proud of what we have achieved, and by no means do we intend to change critic’s minds. This is only an effort to put forth our beliefs so that we can be held accountable to them. We believe in people, we believe that microfinance is finance and has to be
sustainable, that economic value is a consequence of social value, that the main contribution of microfinance is the expansion of the market, that microfinance has great economic value, and that the challenge of combating poverty is much larger than microfinance itself.
WE BELIEVE IN PEOPLE
We are in the business of trusting people. This trust allows our clients to seize opportunities otherwise they would not have. Yes, mostly we provide working capital loans to microentrepreneurs, but that is only part of the story. Like many of the pioneers of microfinance, the Mission that drives us is the creation of opportunities for those who have been excluded from them. It has been the perpetual lack of opportunities that have kept capable people from realizing their full potential, and that is what Compartamos is all about.
The complete 13 page letter is available here.
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