I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Emerging Markets, Inc., a consulting company based in Hollywood that works with banks throughout Los Angles to help them establish branches in under banked communities.  Like Idealistics, Emerging Markets is a double bottom line social enterprise.  It was good hearing about their work and seeing that there are others like ourselves who see a role for the private sector in improving the lives of those less fortunate.

I know at first it may seem unintuitive to pursue social good by bringing profit seeking entities into poor areas to provide banking services.  However, when you consider that credit is the bank bone of our society (something we are all the more reminded of as our financial sector struggles), it is almost impossible to escape poverty without access to affordable capital.  Throughout Los Angeles pay-day lenders that charge high interest rates for small cash loans plague low-income communities.  Families can quickly get caught in a trap of using each pay check just to pay off the interest from the last loan.

By bringing low-income families into the formal banking sector, Emerging Markets not only helps people get access to more reasonably priced credit, but introduces them to the banking sector where they can more safely deposit funds and earn interest on savings.

I want to thank Elwood Hopkins, Managing Director, and Rudy Espinoza, Associate at Emerging Markets for taking the time to tell me about their work.  I look forward to hearing more about this exciting agency in the future!

Tags: banks, poverty