Welcome to IDEAS Website

IDEAS exists to help resource-poor people around the world get the tools and skills they need to build secure and sustainable futures for themselves, their families and their communities. We do this by helping to improve the organizations that provide very small loans or other economic development services to poor people to start or expand small businesses.

Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) solve a major problem faced by poor people around the world -- lack of access to credit. Rejected by banks and other conventional lending institutions because they have no collateral or credit history, poor people are often forced to turn to informal money lenders and pawn brokers who charge exorbitant interest rates. MFIs lend at lower rates so that the lower expenses increase the profits that provides the business with sustainability and allows surplus to improve the quality of life of the household of the entrepreneur.