Microfinance, the Nobel Prize-winning initiative to turn aspiring Third World entrepreneurs into self-sustaining CEOs, has long been the only game in town when it comes to offering developing world entrepreneurs a viable and sustainable form of funding. But other financial instruments may work just as well–if not better–at supplying small farmers around the world with capital and a path out of poverty.

KickStart, a nonprofit that sells human-powered irrigation systems for entrepreneurial farmers, has successfully introduced an SMS-powered layaway program in Kenya, forcing buyers to set aside tiny increments into an electronic bank, rather than store cash under a mattress where it’s prey to poor business practices, demands from relatives, impulse purchases, theft, and emergency needs–all of which contribute to the “poverty trap.”

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