MyKRO.org recently interviewed WWB’s Africa Relationship Manager, Mariama Ashcroft, about microfinance commercialization following her presentation on the subject at Nigeria´s 3rd Annual Microfinance Conference. She explains that formalization is a strategy that allows MFIs to expand access to financial services by fully integrating into the financial system. She emphasizes the need for this integration—demand for financial services among microentrepreneurs is far greater than supply.

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On June 05, 2008 WWB's publication "Stemming the Tide of Mission Drift: Microfinance and the Double Bottom Line," was cted in a Time magazine article, The Big Trouble in Small Loans, on interest rates and commercialization. According to the article, "financiers are increasingly convinced that there is huge money to be made in microfinance, and this increased interest is causing alarm bells to go off for many industry insiders.

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WWB's publication "Stemming the Tide of Mission Drift: Microfinance and the Double Bottom Line," was the featured paper in the May 2008 edition of MicroCapital Monitor." Read the entire article

Time Magazine featured WWB's working paper, "Stemming the Tide of Mission Drift: Microfinance and the Double Bottom Line," on the World section of its online magazine. The Time article, titled "Microfinance: Women Being Cheated?" asks the question that initially motivated WWB to begin collecting data on microfinance institutions as they transform to regulated financial institutions:

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