Announcing new, exciting features for summer 2011!

I want to share with you some exciting news about MIX’s future direction that will strengthen our information services for all industry actors.

Since 2002, you have come to know and rely on MIX as the premier source for microfinance data and analysis. To ensure that we continuously evolve to fulfill our mission of improving transparency in an ever-changing market, MIX conducts regular research into the information gaps and business needs of our users. Those research efforts have directly led to product innovations that have generated significant improvements for our audience. In 2010, we released a number of new-to-world information products for the microfinance sector: rich country-level market analyses; the world’s broadest interim MFI data set; and a unique resource deepening exposure into MFIs’ liability funding structures. And we could not be more thrilled and delighted that you, our users, have responded by doubling the volume of visits to our websites – www.themix.org and www.mixmarket.org.

Last summer, we engaged in an intensive market research effort to inform the next major phase of our continuing mission to promote transparency and strengthen the sector for microfinance practitioners around the globe. From our conversations with users like you, one message rang loud and clear – in a rapidly changing market, you need timely data, sharp insight into MFIs and the markets in which they operate, and information that directly supports your daily work in an easily accessible format.

In response to the clear mandate that we have received from you and your peers, I am excited to announce that this summer, with the generous support of Omidyar Network, MIX will release a series of premium, fee-based services designed to better meet the business needs among our users, while furthering our mission of transparency. These new, premium features will save you time and resources by providing you with sophisticated analytical tools and timelier data in an easily accessible package.

Best of all, MIX premium services are being designed to further improve our ability to deliver high-quality microfinance data and analysis that you have come to know and rely on; thus strengthening our ability to deliver against MIX’s guiding mission, while also generating benefits for the public domain. Over the next few months, you can expect, for instance, a more accessible and user-friendly www.mixmarket.org and improved country-level market assessments. Premium offerings will go one step further by providing paid subscribers deeper on-the-ground market intelligence, access to richer and more timely data, world-class reporting and analytical tools, and configurable data views to meet your unique business needs.

As we prepare to launch the initial round of premium features this summer, we at MIX will be sure to keep you posted on upcoming developments – so expect to hear more from us. You can look for updates via Twitter, Facebook, the MIX Dispatch (look in your inbox next week for our March issue!) and of course on our websites. Everything we do is on behalf of users like you – so please continue to send any questions and feedback that you may have to [email protected]. We are incredibly excited to take our services to the next level in support of users like you. As always, thank you for your ongoing support of MIX.

Sincerely,

Marten Leijon, Executive Director

Microfinance Information Exchange, Inc.