MicroFinance Open Source
Encyclopedia
Mifos is an initiative of the Grameen Foundation
and the financial software that it produces for the microfinance
industry. The software provides key functionality for microfinance institutions: client management, portfolio management, loan repayment tracking, fee and savings transactions, and reporting . (The name "Mifos" originally came from an acronym "Micro Finance Open Source", but is now used as the name, rather than an acronym.) The product is supporting more than 850,000 microfinance clients across 28 microfinance institutions as of June 2011 and continues to grow its presence across the globe. To further enhance the reach of the product, Grameen Foundation launched Mifos Cloud in July 2010. On June 1, 2011, Grameen Foundation announced that it would be ending its direct involvement with the Mifos Initiative and transitioning it to a completely community-led project. Transition to the community is underway; as part of this transition its Mifos Cloud service was discontinued.
Grameen Foundation
Grameen Foundation, founded as Grameen Foundation USA, is a global 501 non-profit organization based in Washington DC that works to replicate the Grameen Bank microfinance model around the world through a global network of partner microfinance institutions...
and the financial software that it produces for the microfinance
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
industry. The software provides key functionality for microfinance institutions: client management, portfolio management, loan repayment tracking, fee and savings transactions, and reporting . (The name "Mifos" originally came from an acronym "Micro Finance Open Source", but is now used as the name, rather than an acronym.) The product is supporting more than 850,000 microfinance clients across 28 microfinance institutions as of June 2011 and continues to grow its presence across the globe. To further enhance the reach of the product, Grameen Foundation launched Mifos Cloud in July 2010. On June 1, 2011, Grameen Foundation announced that it would be ending its direct involvement with the Mifos Initiative and transitioning it to a completely community-led project. Transition to the community is underway; as part of this transition its Mifos Cloud service was discontinued.
Qualifications and prizes
- Mifos earns high ratings on CGAPConsultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor is a consortium of 33 public and private development agencies working together to expand access to financial services for the poor in developing countries...
Software Listings
- Mifos won a Duke's Choice Award in 2009 for "Java Technology for the Open Source Community"
- Mifos participated in the Google Summer Of CodeGoogle Summer of CodeThe Google Summer of Code is an annual program, first held from May to August 2005, in which Google awards stipends to hundreds of students who successfully complete a requested free or open-source software coding project during the summer...
2009 and 2010
Partnerships
- IBM Partners With Grameen Foundation to Expand Its Open Source Microfinance Banking Platform and Help Eradicate Poverty
- Grameen Foundation and ThoughtWorks Partner to Extend Microfinance Technology Platform to Global Communities
- Grameen Microfinance Open Source - Corporate Citizenship Report 2007 says Cisco will help make Mifos software easier to deploy and scale it to serve more institutions and clients
- Grameen Foundation and SunGard Join Forces to Support Technology Advancement in Microfinance
MFIs Using Mifos
See Who's Using Mifos on mifos.org for a list of organizations using Mifos worldwide.- Grameen Koota
- Adhikar
- Nirantara FinAccess
Mifos in News
External links
- Mifos website (hosts software downloads and mailing lists)
- Mifos User Manual