Here is your Forbes Daily Briefing for Wednesday, October 8th.

Today on Forbes, unprofitable microlending fintech makes big bet on global expansion.

In March 2020, the COVID pandemic was beginning to devastate the finances of consumers in the Philippines.

The country's government had imposed what became one of the longest military-enforced

lockdowns in the world, making paying bills impossible for many citizens.

Across the ocean in Santa Monica, the consequences were dire for Tala, the FinTech company

that makes small loans of up to $500

to low-income consumers in the Philippines, Mexico, and Kenya.

Historically, 10% of Tala's customers had regularly failed to pay back their loans.

That rate tripled in the second quarter of 2020.

While most American fintech companies were enjoying a spike in digital transactions,

Tala all but shut down most of its business, temporarily going into what entrepreneurs call,

quote, cockroach mode.

It had been lending out $80 million a month, but abruptly slashed that to $3 million.

Chavani Soroya, Tala's 43-year-old founder and CEO, says one of her biggest fears was that

she wouldn't be able to pay back Tala's lenders, which could have had disastrous ripple effects.

She said she thought at the time, quote, we have 600 people at the company.

How are we going to protect their jobs?

Tala laid off 20% of its customer service staff in the Philippines and Kenya and cut other costs

dramatically.

The emergency measures paid off.

After a year, Tala was able to return to its pre-pandemic lending levels. It raised funding

...