Event Review: Loans for Growth

October 28, 2010— NYWSE presented Loans for Growth, a panel discussion featuring women leaders from leading domestic and international microfinance institutions. A big thank you to JPMorgan for hosting the event at their headquarters in the Financial District.

Moderated by Mia Feldman of JPMorgan Social Finance Group, our panel featured Gina Harman, President and CEO, ACCION USA; Emily Kerr, Founder and CEO, Liga Masiva; Richa Agarwal, Project Manager, BRAC USA; Jahaira Guerrero, Director of Microenterprise Development, Brooklyn Cooperative; and Katherine Rosenberg, Director of Evaluation and Education, Grameen America.

The panel kicked off as each panelist described their respective missions and approaches to microfinance. While Grameen USA serves US entrepreneurs below the poverty line, domestic counterparts ACCION USA and Brooklyn Cooperative assist established US entrepreneurs via loans of up to $50K. Within the field of international microfinance, the spectrum ranges from specialized organizations, such as Liga Massiva that provides small loans to farmers primarily in the Dominican Republic, to BRAC, a development organization that combines microfinance with economic and social development programs across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean.

Each panelist shared her organization’s success stories, whether it was a Bangladeshi woman who grew her home embroidery business into a factory with 12 employees, or the three Mexican brothers who leveraged microloans to establish their own restaurants in New York. They also addressed challenges, such as the impact of the recent financial crisis on nonpayments and loan defaults, as well as corresponding solutions.

In this era of “too-big-to-fail” financial institutions, the key take-away emphasized the power of microfinance to provide entrepreneurs with access to capital, By giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to start and grow their businesses, microfinance opens countless possibilities for sustainable community development.

For a different perspective of our event, check out this review from Mary McBride, Dean of Pratt Institute’s Design Management Program, for  insight on the relationship between microfinance and design management.

As for our visually inclined readers, scroll down to view pictures of the panel and post-event networking. Stay tuned for future event announcements on this blog-- we look forward to seeing you at our next event!

 

 

 

Pipeline Fund: A Bootcamp for Women Angel Investors

Want to invest in socially responsible companies, but don't know where and how to begin?

Meet the Pipeline Fund Fellowship! Launched by Natalia Oberti Noguera, NYWSE Chapter Leader and Pipeline  Fund CEO, the program trains women philanthropists to become angel investors through education, mentoring and practice. This is an excellent opportunity to learn the ins-and-outs of due diligence, receive guidance from an experienced angel investors and apply your newfound skills by investing in women-led for-profit social ventures.

Pipeline will accept ten participants into their first cohort. Each participant commits to invest US$5K for a collective US$50K to be invested in a woman-led for-profit social venture at the end of the training. To complete the Pipeline Fund Fellowship application, go to: http://ow.ly/32A8s

To learn more about the Pipeline Fund Fellowship, check out this this excellent article on Businessweek.com. The last day to apply is December 1, 2010. Questions? Email Pipeline at [email protected] 

 

Building Communities through Microfinance

As part of our series on women in microfinance, we speak with Erica Dorn, Manager of Kiva and Volunteer Partnerships at ACCION USA. A leader in US microfinance, ACCION USA is committed to bringing affordable small business loans to microentrepreneurs. The organization has provided over $119 million in over 19,000 microloans since inception in 1991, helping to grow small businesses and strengthen the communities they serve. Here, Erica shares her story on how she became involved in the sector and her experiences in building volunteer partnerships for microfinance institutions 

Growing up, I have always been involved in community projects. My interest in this area took on a deeper meaning after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when I volunteered with a friend’s nonprofit to rebuild communities in New Orleans. The experience of working in the devastated neighborhoods gave me a newfound understanding of poverty in the United States and the determination to solve the challenges ahead of me.

Upon my return to Brooklyn, I established The Local Universe, a community project that fundraised for redevelopment in New Orleans. As my team brought local communities together to contribute to the cause, I grew interested in creating grassroots-level development initiatives that could achieve sustainable results. This led me to pursue an unpaid, volunteer-based fellowship with Kiva, the world's first online lending platform, where I worked to facilitate stronger connections between Kiva lenders and borrowers at ACCION USA.

During my fellowship, I interviewed entrepreneurs who had received loans through ACCION USA and created online content to share their stories with the Kiva lending community. I learned that microfinance was commonly misperceived as a solution to poverty in developing countries. Unaware of poverty’s extent in the US, many of Kiva’s lenders expressed skepticism towards US-based microfinance initiatives and believed that this deviated from the organization’s mission to alleviate global poverty.

In reality, there are ~40 million underbanked US entrepreneurs, often minority and immigrant communities, with no access to loans and capital. At the same time, the multiplier effect of US-based microfinance is not to be ignored— for each ACCION loan, an underserved entrepreneur creates 2.4 jobs in the surrounding community. I believe that microfinance is a highly pragmatic and accessible solution that empowers people to strengthen and develop their communities.

Today, as the Manager of Kiva and Volunteer Partnerships, I work with my team to strengthen our volunteer force to expand the capacity of ACCION to serve more entrepreneurs in the United States. In addition to planning for the Microfinance USA conference in New York City on May 23-24, I am developing programs to engage students and campuses. Right now, we are piloting a program where students can act as “assistant” loan consultants to local entrepreneurs near their campuses. By providing students with tools to spread awareness about US-based microfinance, provide outreach to potential borrowers and help them access credit through ACCION, we hope to tap into their great energy and increase the loan accessibility in underserved communities.