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1to4




John Ayliffe
Chairman & Founder

About John Ayliffe

About John Ayliffe

John Ayliffe is Chairman and Founder of 1to4. John is also a board member of MicroCredit Enterprises, the Rotary Action Group for MicroCredit (RAGM) and InVenture. Prior to founding 1to4, John was Co-Founder and CEO of Precimed from 1994 to 2008. John lives with his wife, Cathy and their 2 children in Lignières (NE), Switzerland.


Country:  Switzerland
Region:  Europe
Mission: 

Based on our vision of a talent-based economy, the 1to4 mission is to:
 

  • Increase microfinance penetration into underserved regions in order to enable unbanked, talented people to develop revenue generating activities which lead to financial independence.
  • Build a platform to finance and accompany those job-creating, entrepreneurial businesses which have outgrown microfinance yet still remain outside the banking sector–- the so-called “missing middle”.
  • Contribute to the expansion of the whole economic development sector by investing in targeted technologies, products and innovations which facilitate such expansion.
  • Organize conferences and training sessions to encourage others to become 1to4 advocates and contribute their time, talents and treasury to the fight against poverty.

Sector:  Financial Services
Year Founded:  2010
Website:  1to4
Description: 

There is no unique, straightforward solution to eradicate poverty. At 1to4, we use a suite of innovative products such as our Guarantor program and our GiftVest program to provide solutions which :

  1. Recognize the value of microfinance to foster financial independence for the most vulnerable populations.
  2. Recognize that talented individuals often outgrow what microfinance can offer and desperately need access to small business finance. Small businesses create jobs. Sustainably. Everywhere. Small businesses invest, pay taxes and contribute to a country’s long-term well-being.
  3. Recognize that the microfinance and small business finance sectors need to grow and can be significantly enhanced by investments in capacity building technologies and products.

Social Impact: 

Through the Guarantor program, approximately USD 50 million in loans for microfinance have been provided to more than 40 MFIs in more than 20 countries across the world reaching over 800,000 people. Every additional Guarantor joining the program has a huge impact as each USD 1 million guarantee can generate more than 3,000 micro-loans, reaching more than 15,000 people...sustainably.
Our clean energy investment (MicroEnergy Credits) has enabled more than 120,000 low-income households to benefit from clean energy products through the provision of microfinance loans.