Course

Unitus: Entrepreneurship in Microfinance

Stanford University
Course Lectures
  • What is Microfinance?
    Geoff Davis

    Geoff Davis, founder and CEO of Unitus, explains the meaning of microfinance and the huge potential and impact the field has. He goes on to discuss the difference between microfinance and micro credit. He reveals that microfinance has a huge growth opportunity as it is potentially a five billion dollar market and is currently about a one billion dollar market.

  • Role of Unitus
    Geoff Davis

    Davis talks about how he got involved in micro credit and how it led to the formation of Unitus. He explains how Unitus is different form Grameen Bank, a pioneer in the field of microfinance. Unitus uses an Acceleration Model, a venture approach to do micro finance. This means they invest in programs around the world that offer micro loans and that have high growth potential to accelerate their growth.

  • Davis believes that microfinance institutions can be profitable. This is a business opportunity with incredible social impact, he says.

  • Davis talks about one of the biggest challenges he faced with Unitus: coming into an established industry that has been successful and showing that things can be done differently and better.

  • Following Your Gut
    Geoff Davis

    Set your sights high and go for it, says Davis. He encourages students who want to make a difference to believe and follow their dreams with grit and ingenuity.

  • Davis discusses how Unitus helps transform small non-profit companies into large profitable companies. Unitus makes the companies think bigger and expand their vision. They try to paint the picture of a possibility of a bigger future, he notes.