Why do so many microfinance institutions, seeking to improve lives, fall short – and even end up harming those they try to help? This is the central question tackled in The Business of Doing Good, which outlines six practical steps for a new approach to doing good, and doing well, in the marketplace.
The Business of Doing Good charts the course of AMK, a remarkable and profitable Cambodian MFI that has, with single-minded purpose, made radical choices and reached deep into rural villages, touching the lives of almost two million people living in poverty.
In analysing AMK’s evolution over time, authors Anton Simanowitz and Katherine Knotts reveal how just a few small changes to the way that organizations engage with their clients, manage their staff, and structure their business model can make a dramatic difference in increasing their social impact.
The insights outlined in the book cover: (a) How to get to grips with the realities of clients’ lives, and deliver products that address their real needs; (b) how to stop good products getting ‘lost in translation’ through the people that deliver them, so that the reality on the ground matches aspirations; (c) building a business that works, being clear about what needs to be achieved, and innovating to build the business model to make things happen rather than accepting conventional wisdom that it can’t be done; and (d) how all organizations can deliver social as well as economic value, and how local organizations can become self-sustaining, dynamic contributors to overcoming poverty.