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Catalytic Innovation In Microfinance For Inclusive Growth: Insights From Sks Microfinance, Lakshmi Mohan, Devendra Potnis

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Microfinance offers a means for reaching the poor who are left out of the formal financial sector. A fundamentally new way is needed to create a scalable and sustainable business model to meet this unmet need – a catalytic innovation. Our study focused on Swayam Krishi Sangam (SKS), an archetype of a catalytic innovator. The insights gained from our three-year longitudinal study led to the proposed framework for a catalytic innovator encompassing five factors: customer focus on the poor and social entrepreneurship for the social mission; operational innovation, information technology and human capital management for scaling and financial sustainability.