Posts by jerryostradicky:
- Event: Los Angeles Microfinance Network (LAMN) event with Lee Tenny from IBM.
Description: Lee Tenny is a Managing Consultant at IBM and he is leading a project for IBM’s innovation group in the development and deployment of new technologies for microfinance. Lee’s team has active projects in 5 regions around the world and have developed a global view of some of the key aspects, from both a technology / operations standpoint as well as a policy and macro-economic standpoint, that are critical for the successful scaling up of microfinance.
When: September 21st 2009
Where: USC Campus, Business Building at Room HOH1
Registration - Event: Pro Micro Health Insurance (MHI): Micro Health Insurance Conference 2009
Description: The international Pro MHI Africa team will hold a final conference at the end of their two year project in December 2009 in Lilongwe. The project analyses the efficiency and sustainability of local micro health insurance units in Ghana, Botswana and Malawi. Common research results and general outcomes of the two year project will be presented at the conference and hence new information on the potential, efficiency and sustainability of Micro Health Insurance in Botswana, Ghana and Malawi will disseminated.
When: December 2-3, 2009
Where: Lilongwe, Malawi, Malawi Institute of Management
Registration - Event: C5’s Second Annual Microfinance Investment Forum
Description: As the global liquidity crisis spreads to the developing world, the resilience of microfinance as an asset class is increasingly clear and has enhanced the industry’s appeal to investor’s eyes. Concurrently, as the demand for microfinance amongst end borrowers reaches unprecedented levels, the need for MFIs to draw investment into the industry has never been greater. C5’s Second Annual Microfinance Investment Summit will provide a unique international platform for genuine interaction between MFIs and many other key industry stakeholders.Our outstanding panel of more than 50 key industry speakers, will include more MFIs than any other investment conference.
When: October 6-7 2009
Where: Renaissance Chancery Court, London UK
Registration - Event: 3rd International Conference on Microfinance
Description: To provide a forum of economists and socialists to address the issues relating to micro finance. To evolve strategies to eradicate poverty in India and at Globe. To collaborate with National and International Research centers on Micro Finance. To take education to the field and to promote people’s participation in eradicating the poverty through micro finance. To involve the administrators, policy makers, NGO’s and the public concerned in the adoption of sound policies, this would create economically stable and financially healthy India.
When: January 22-24 2010
Where: Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India
Registration - Event: UN Environment Program Finance Initiative Roundtable 2009
UNEP FI invites you to join its vibrant global network of signatories and partner organisations across the banking, insurance and investment communities to discuss the latest developments and emerging issues on finance and sustainability during these challenging and changing times. With UNEP FI always on the cutting-edge of sustainable finance, the Cape Town Roundtable will offer interactive panel sessions, in-depth debates, and expert training on: responsible investment, sustainable banking, low-carbon economy, financing renewables, sustainable insurance, etc.
When: October 22-23, 2009
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
Registration
Microfinance and Haiti
January 21st, 2010I’m sure everybody knows about the major earthquake that has devastated Haiti, killing thousands of people. Over the last week I have seen support coming from all angles, from mainstream sites like Facebook, BBC, CNN, celebrities like Ben Stiller donating through their charities, to major non-profits in the area like Yele Haiti and the Red Cross. It is great to see so many different companies and organizations contributing to help the cause. Although the earthquake was major, it was only a little bigger than earthquakes in the US, but caused an expontentially higher amount of damange and casualties. I think this earthquake opened peoples’ eyes about the impact that natural disasters can have on developing countries. Similar to the Tsunami in Thailand earlier this decade, people have joined from all over to help donate money. Although a lot of the rebuilding will be coming from the donations that people will be making, one of the next steps will be for people in Haiti to help themselves rebuild. I think there will be a big microfinance push as things start to get cleared up in Haiti. With all of the relief organizations helping out, it’s only a matter of time that microfinance will take over. In the last week alone, there have been a lot of microfinance organizations that have been helping the cause. I decided that I would share some of the ones I have heard about.
-Alex Counts from the Grameen Foundation talks about the next step to help Haiti rebuild:
-Kiva’s field partner Esperanza wrote an update:
On Wednesday,20 January, at 6:00AM a 6.1 magnitude aftershock struck Haiti (with an epicenter approximately 35 miles north of the capital, Port-au-Prince). This is the largest aftershock yet and it comes just eight days after the tragic 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit the capital. As a result of the aftershock, many unstable buildings collapsed; however, we are fortunate they were empty as many survivors of the original quake have been sleeping on the streets. We ask for continued prayers and support for the people of Haiti.
In light of this disaster, Esperanza is partnering with various doctors and medical volunteers in the towns of Elias Pina and Jimani, located on the border with Haiti. Loads of water, food, personal hygiene items and medicines have been shipped to these areas. We are also working with our already established network of pastors and church leaders who are currently preparing sites in Port-au-Prince to receive aid directly into the country.
As the situation in Haiti becomes dire, we are still in need of cash donations from our partners abroad. Monetary gifts of $40 to Esperanza´s Disaster Relief initiatives will provide a family with its basic necessities (food, bottled water, healthcare kits, etc.). For more information on how to help, please contact the Esperanza Disaster Response Group at disasterresponse@esperanza.org
-Fonkoze, an MFI in Haiti, has an Earthquake News and Updates page that they are updating with information from the ground as well as some photos that their staff have taken. Whole Foods has donated 1 million dollars to Fonkoze to help out the microfinance effort on the ground.
-In addition to MFIs and other non-profits helping the efforts, there are also local microfinance networks such as SeaMO, Seattle Greendrinks, Global Washington and Re-Vision Labs who are putting on an event here in Seattle to help raise funds and awareness about what is going on in Haiti.
You can RSVP for Washington for Haiti: A benefit to aid the relief efforts of Fonkoze on their facebook event page
Kiva Video Contest Results
January 21st, 2010Last December, Tongal held a competition where people created inspiring and creative videos to educate people how the Kiva loan process works. Here were the top 5 winners:
1: Erik Andersson – “The Pedro Story”
2: Andre Ferreira – “You Too Can Help”
3: Kieran Ball – “From Desk to Door: Kiva’s Microloan Delivery Service”
4: Shelley Cryan – “Change a Life with a Kiva Loan”
5: Andrew Huffaker – “Kiva – Loans That Change Lives”
The contest is not over yet. There is still a competition where the winners can still receive the “Most Viewed” Prize, so make sure that you pass along your favorite videos. The contest lasts until 1/31
November Microfinance & Microbrew Event
November 16th, 2009This month, SeaMo (Cosponsored by the UW Global Business Center) is throwing another one of their great microfinance networking events, Microfinance & Microbrews. This month, Kushal Chakrabarti will be speaking about Vittana. Here’s some more details about the event:
What: VITTANA, a new Seattle based microfinance organization pioneering education loans in developing countries
When: Wednesday Nov. 18th – Doors open at 5:30pm, presentation begins at 6:15pm
Where: Spitfire 2219 4th Ave, Seattle WA
Who:You and other professionals, students and community members learning about Vittana.org directly from co-founder Kushal Chakrabarti Named a Gamechanger for Philanthropy by the Huffington Post
Why: We know the value of microfinance loans to support adults launching small businesses, but what about giving young people a way to fund their secondary and college educations? Vittana.org is doing just that – going directly to students with loans from us to fund knowledge development around the world.
Grameen Foundation Launches the Ingenuity Fund Challenge
November 16th, 2009This month, the Grameen Foundation launched the Ingenuity Fund Challenge. The Ingenuity Fund is a new program that inspires individuals to start their own fundraising efforts to help and inspire others to become a part of microfinance. There are millions of people around the world who have ideas, with the Ingenuity Fund, Grameen is trying to tap into that resource.
From November 2009 through February 2010, Challenge participants will develop compelling, creative personal fundraising pages on Grameen Foundation’s website, and raise awareness of and funds for Grameen Foundation’s work through personal networks, social media and other offline activities. By joining this campaign, not only are participants helping spread the awareness of microfinance, but the participant who has the most ingenious web page and outreach effort will travel abroad with the Grameen Foundation to visit one of their on-the-ground microfinance or technology programs. They’ll document the experience through blogging, photos and videos featured on the Grameen web site, giving a new voice to the global community that believes poverty is unnecessary.
Take the first step by creating a fundraising page!
Click here for the official rules
Response to the NY Times Article about Kiva
November 11th, 2009Casey Wilson recently had a great email that she sent out about the recent articles about Kiva in the NY times that I thought was worth posting:
You might have read Stephanie Strom’s article “Confusion Where Money Lent via Kiva Goes” in the New York Times a few days ago. This issue has been making the rounds since David Roodman’s post a month ago. As a fellow “peer-to-peer” microfinance organization, we thought it was important for us to follow up with our own supporters on this issue.
To be clear, contributions on Wokai go to microfinance institutions (our “Field Partners”) in rural China, who are in charge of distributing the loans to the borrowers and collecting repayment. A borrower can in fact receive a loan from a Field Partner prior the time the loan is “100% funded” on the Wokai website. Below are two excerpts from Wokai’s FAQ that might shed more light on the issue.
Can a recipient’s loan start before it is 100% funded?
Yes. Once a Field Partner has posted a recipient’s profile online, Wokai Field Partners can use their own capital to issue that recipient’s loan. Wokai then reimburses this capital to the Field Partner once the recipient’s loan has been 100% funded. If the recipient’s loan is canceled for any reason, the recipient will no longer be designated as a “Wokai recipient” and that Field Partner will permanently fund the loan with its own capital reserves.
What happens if a recipient’s loan does not get 100% funded by the final fundraising day?
If a recipient’s loan is not 100% funded by the time it reaches zero “Days Left”, then Wokai will either extend the recipient’s fundraising period by one month or, if there is any specific reason why contributors are choosing not to fund the recipient, Wokai will cancel the recipient and allow contributors to select a new recipient to support.
Wokai is committed to being transparent in its processes. To that end, we discuss our field partner relationships right on our “About” pages. We even received credit from David Roodman in his original post for being very open about our relationships with field partners.
To read more about what Wokai does, visit their site at Wokai.org
Matt Flannery Talks About Kiva’s Fourth Birthday
October 20th, 2009On October 12th, Kiva.org had its fourth birthday. Has it really been that long since Kiva first popped up? I remember hearing about Kiva about three years ago and I feel like it was just yesterday. Matt Flannery, the CEO and co-founder of Kiva, posted some of his thoughts about what Kiva has accomplished so far and what it plans in the future:
As I write this, Kiva is on the verge of surpassing the $100M mark in terms of total loans sent to entrepreneurs through our website. $100 million is an impressive number by anyone’s standards, but Kiva has never been about the numbers. Ultimately Kiva is about stories and the connections between people that are forged when those stories are shared.
Kiva started out as an experiment in an Eastern Ugandan village five years ago. It was a quite personal attempt to convey the hope that we witnessed during a trip to Africa. That trip changed our view of poverty and how we can relate to it. We felt that, surely, if everyone could have experienced what we experienced, they would want to get involved too. With the spread of technology, why couldn’t everyone get involved?
Since that time, we’ve been working tirelessly to make that dream a reality. We’ve traveled all over the world and made friends most everywhere. We’ve witnessed an alarming amount of poverty. We’ve also seen a universal work ethic, creativity and entrepreneurialism that reside in the world’s working poor. It is that spirit that has made Kiva possible…
Read the rest of Matt’s thoughts on the Kiva blog.
Upcoming Microfinance Events
September 7th, 2009For anybody who will be traveling or is looking for a microfinance event to go to, here are some events in the upcoming months:
Grameen Foundation Blog Makes Top 50 Social Entrepreneur Blogs
September 7th, 2009Evan Carmichael, a journalist, entrepreneur, and consultant runs a blog that ranks number one for resources and information amongst small business owners and entrepreneurs. He has been interviewed by the NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, the National Post, etc, and has business owner showcases that include Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie to present entrepreneurs like Calvin Klein, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Dell. Recently Evan has put together a list of the top 50 Social Entrepreneur blogs that are making a huge impact in the world. The Grameen Foundation, which combines the power of microfinance, technology and innovative solutions to defeat global poverty, has it’s own blog, Creating A World Without Poverty, which was chosen as one of Evan’s top 50. Check out the other 49 blogs that made the list.
NPR Interview: Anthony Pace
August 23rd, 2009Here’s a good interview on NPR with Anthony Pace, the executive director of The Plan Fund. Here’s a little background on The Plun Fund:
Starting in 1999 The PLAN Fund has been committed to making a positive difference in the lives of working class entrepreneurs. The PLAN Fund is a non-profit organization whose mission is to assist entrepreneurs to achieve success in starting and or expanding their small businesses. Our program’s underlying goal is to increase our member’s economic self sufficiency through entrepreneurship by developing sustainable businesses. Through 2008 we have distributed 490 business loans worth almost $725,000 our average loan size is $1,475.
Source: SeaMo, good stuff Ryan.
United Prosperity Launched The Beta Version Of Their Lending Platform
August 16th, 2009Back in November last year I wrote about a new lending organization called United Prosperity that has a new take on microfinance lending. United Prosperity recently launched the full version of their website, which allows its lenders to guarantee loans for entrepreneurs rather than loan money to directly the the entrepreneurs.
Here’s some more information about United Prosperity:
United Prosperity is a non-profit organization that helps you combat extreme global poverty powerfully by multiplying the impact of your money through loan guarantees. We are the world’s first person to person loan guaranteeing website. You can become a compassionate social guarantor with United Prosperity by providing an interest-free cash collateral or guarantee for an entrepreneur on our website. No minimum amount is required, and you are able to choose which entrepreneurs you would like to support.
The biggest question that I had when I was surfing the site was why should I choose United Prosperity over other sites? Of course, a few minutes later, I found my answer. Here are some good examples of how United Prosperity is different:
Example A: Providing a loan to a poor entrepreneur: A poor entrepreneur needs a $1,000 loan. Ten lenders could each contribute $100 to make a loan of $1000 to the poor entrepreneur.Thus a total $1000 in contributions results in $1000 of loans made to the poor entrepreneur. On an individual basis, a $100 contribution results in a $100 loan to a poor entrepreneur.
Example B: Providing a loan guarantee to a poor entrepreneur through United Prosperity: Guarantee amounts are typically only a portion of the loan amount. For example, for a bank to lend $1000 to a poor entrepreneur, it might require a guarantee of only $200. Thus 2 social guarantors could each contribute only $100 and cover the $200 guarantee needed and thereby make a $1,000 loan available to the poor entrepreneur.Thus $200 in guarantees results in $1000 loans available to the poor entrepreneur. On an individual basis, $100 loan guarantee results in $500 of lending to a poor entrepreneur.
We maximize the impact of your dollar:
For every $1 you put toward a guarantee, you will allow nearly $2 or more in microloan to the entrepreneur from local banks either directly or through our partners. Better yet, you will be able to track your chosen entrepreneur’s progress, and when they repay their loan, you will be repaid in full! At that point you will have the opportunity to support another entrepreneur if you wish.
Although the website has a lot of information, it is easy to navigate. United Prosperity does a really good job explaining what the benefits and risks of microfinance are but still manages to have the human touch, rather than just being a website full of information. They have a team blog were members of the organization write updates, as well as a great community page which allows lenders (and even non-lenders) to share insight about the platform as well as microfinance in general.
I just made my first loan of $25, does anybody want to match me 
