Your Name: Nicole Stubbs
Business Name: First Access
Type of Business: High Tech, Social Enterprise, Other — Microfinance analytics
Business Location: United States, Tanzania
U.S. State: New York
Website www.first-access.org
Twitter @1staccess
Tumblr first-access.tumblr.com
Reason for starting
Microfinance is too expensive for lenders and borrowers, primarily because there is little reliable information on risk among loan applicants who have no financial records. First Access is pioneering a system of financial profiles for microloan applicants to access credit using their prepaid mobile records.
Biggest Success
Building relationships with most of the microfinance and mobile sector in Tanzania to test our innovation.
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
Managing all our different responsibilities with a team that is dispersed across multiple continents is probably our biggest challenge, and at the moment, the most effective tool we’ve found to address this is Producteev, a task management tool that manages our workflows, tracks relationships with clients and suppliers, and keeps us all up to date.
Who is your most important role model?
Jacqueline Novogratz, the Founder of Acumen Fund, certainly comes to mind.