Applications of Information Systems and Microfinance in Nicaragua

Abstract

I was approached midway through my junior year at Fairfield University with a unique opportunity to take an Information Systems course headed by Dr. Vishnu Vinekar. This service learning class consisting of twelve students involved traveling to Nicaragua for a week in early January 2014. In collaboration with the Nitlapan Research and Development Institute of the Central American University (UCA) in Managua, we deliberated how to improve the business processes of this microfinance institution. This institution has been operating for twenty years, and works with a variety of organizations to help assist the entrepreneurs of its nation. The amalgamation of technology and business, combined with the service learning focus of this class, resulted in my classmates and I having a much more definitive understanding of how Information Systems stand to change the world for the better.