As stated by the Brundtland Report the authoritative document on sustainable development the
pressure of poverty creates environmental stress by factors like overcrowded cities
deforestation and overuse of marginal land. Alejandro Turbay Funmilayo Akinosi and Daniel
Nordlund sought to find out how microfinance institutions (MFIs) who inherently cater to a
largely poor clientele could maximise their socioeconomic missions within ecologically
beneficial limits. Turbay Akinosi and Nordlund defined sustainability through the Framework
for Strategic Sustainable Development a systematic five-level approach for planning and
making decisions. Subsequently they created a principle-based model of their vision of a
sustainable MFI and then tested this model with executive-level practitioners of various
microfinance institutions around the world. In this book they present their findings: - The
acceptance of ecological considerations into socio-economic missions is growing. - More and
more 'green' funds are helping to turn environmental challenges into investment opportunities.
- MFIs operating within ecologically beneficial manners can derive advantages including credit
risk reduction enhanced reputation increased competitiveness and improved earnings. -
Surprisingly incorporating ecological considerations turned out to be not necessarily
expensive. Some activities like re-using materials could even be done without any additional
costs. The book describes how MFIs can maximise the benefits by considering the inherent
connections between their missions and ecological considerations.
