Hi everyone -
For those of you who don't know me (and that's probably a lot of you), I was
previously the Executive Director, Technology for Microfinance, at Grameen
Foundation. In that role, I led the Mifos team for the last five years. As
Emily described in her email last week, Grameen Foundation will be exiting
their activities related to Mifos and as part of that transition, I left
Grameen Foundation at the end of May.
The work of both the Mifos team at Grameen Foundation and the global Mifos
community - software developers, microfinance institutions, service providers,
and others - have created a strong platform for the delivery of financial
services for the poor. I believe that Mifos can continue to have significant
positive impact, both for microfinance institutions and as a platform for new
applications and services.
The global community around Mifos is key to the future of Mifos - no single
organization will be able to sustain and drive Mifos on its own. This includes
everyone in the community, from MFIs to service providers to software
developers, and will require one or more organizations to take a leadership
role in the community.
For the next few months, I will be exploring options and opportunities for the
creation of a new, independent organization based in sub-Saharan Africa to
continue work on Mifos as part of the Mifos open source community. The goals
for this organization would be:
to provide leadership to the open source community around Mifos, ensuring that
the platform continues to evolve and that service providers and others can
provide strong support to microfinance institutions using Mifos
to ensure that microfinance institutions can continue to use Mifos
to explore new business opportunities - new applications, etc. - based on Mifos
to leverage Mifos to strengthen the overall software development industry in
Africa
This might take any of a number of different forms, from a for-profit company
to a university partnership, and anything in between. No options are off the
table.
As part of this exploration, I'd like to speak with as many people in the Mifos
community as possible - both within Africa and elsewhere - to get your
perspectives, ideas, and support flowing in a way that strengthens the
community. I'd like to see conversations and discussions starting on the
mailing lists, and also look forward to meeting some of you in person. I'll be
blogging many of the discussions and/or tweeting (www.georgeconard.com/blog and
@GeorgeConard) to keep the discussion flowing in the open.
Please don't hesitate to bring your ideas - wild and crazy ideas welcome! Ed
Cable, Mifos' community manager at Grameen Foundation, has shared many of his
ideas in the past (Ed - want to shoot some of those around?) and I know that
there are a lot of people out in the community who don't always show up on the
mailing lists. You can always contact me directly by email as well (see contact
details below). Raise your hand - virtually, here or in email - if you'd like
to help.
Here are a couple of initial questions to get things started:
- as community members, where do you want to see the Mifos platform go next?
- how can we strengthen the Mifos community?
- what can you do to help strengthen and support the Mifos community in the
months and years ahead?
I believe deeply in the power of software to create empowerment and opportunity
for the world's poor, and in the potential of Mifos to continue on the path
we've started. Together we can build a long, vibrant life for Mifos. I look
forward to working with all of you!
Cheers,
-george
George Conard
US: +1 206 778 7429
Ghana: +233 (0) 54 975 4222
[email protected]
www.georgeconard.com/blog
@GeorgeConard
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