Article on LinkedIn discussing poverty alleviation -- the United Nation's first and foremost sustainable development goal (SDG 1) -- and summarising findings reported in a journal publication for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Research indicates that microfinance initiatives can have unintended consequences. Formal, low-interest, government-supported microfinance produces entrepreneurship opportunities for borrowers, including informal intermediation. That is, some borrowers become informal intermediaries between formal microfinance organizations and poorer micro-entrepreneurs. Those who more easily qualify for formal microfinance may split loans into credit to poorer borrowers.