For those in Seattle, there are two events you may be interested in on February 18th:

Microbrews and Microfinance with Lumana (organized by SeaMO):

When: February 18, 6pm-9pm

Where: 1201 1st Avenue South Seattle, WA 98134-1238 www.pyramidbrew.com

Events Details:

• Drinks and networking with Lumana staff and volunteers

Wokai Happy Hour (in honor of the Chinese New Year):

When: February 18 ,5:30 – 7:30 pm

Where: Café Amore in Belltown, 2301 Fifth Avenue

Event Details:

• Enjoy hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine and signature Wokai beverage
• Special preview of Wokai’s enhanced website
• Fun night of networking and learning

Cost is $25 per person, of which $10 will be credited to a borrower of your choice on Wokai.org.

More information about Wokai events can be found here.

Wondering what to do next Tuesday night??? For those in Seattle, get involved in ending global poverty by joining Oikocredit USA and its community building partners, Re-Vision Labs, in the launching of a new grassroots campaign: Changing the World by Changing the Way We Invest.

OikocreditUSA is non-profit global leader in the microfinance sector that provides credit to trade cooperatives, fair trade organizations, and small-to-medium enterprises in the developing world. Re-Vision Labs is a local, mission-driven start-up offering on-line and offline community building campaigns for worldchanging projects.

The campaign will be launched at January’s Seattle Greendrinks! Seattle Greendrinks has been the premier monthly networking event for professionals interested in sustainability and global development, with regular attendance between 300 and 500 people, and attendance as high as 1,000 at a single event! This  Seattle Greendrinks will be one of the largest in history and will feature socially responsible investment.

Seattle GreenDrinks Oikocredit Kickoff Event

When?  Tuesday, January 12^th

Time? 5:30 – 9:00pm

Where? Evo at 122 NW 36th St, Seattle, WA, 98107 See map: Google map

What? Oikocredit USA and Re-Vision Labs are launching a grassroots campaign to get Americans involved in ending global poverty.

Who?  You, staff from Re-Vision Labs, and Terry Provence, Oikocredit USA Executive Director

If you’d like to learn more about what’s happening with the movement, visit our Community HUB at http://oikocreditusa.socialgo.com/.

Please come, bring your friends and family, and support!!!

Hope to see you there!!

This 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.

For anybody who will be traveling or is looking for a microfinance event to go to, here are some events in the upcoming months:

• 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

For those in the Bay Area interested in microfinance, there is an event on Wednesday you might want to consider attending.

Microfinance is changing the way we look at sustainable living, economic development and welfare throughout the globe, even in the US.

During this Girls in Tech panel discussion we will highlight some of the most influential and powerful women in the microfinance world, as they share the trials and tribulations of running a microfinance or a microlending organization, share inspirational stories on helping women run businesses succeed in developing countries, provide insights on how technology is advancing global economies and more.

Here are the logistics:

When:
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 from 6:00 PM – 9:00 AM (PT)

Where:
Adaptive Path
363 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

Cost: $10 on EventBright

Moderator:

• Sundeep Ahuja

Panelists:

• Ashwini Narayanan, General Manager – Microplace
• Chelsa Bocci, Community Marketing Director – Kiva
• Casey Wilson, co-founder – Wokai
• Shubha Shankaran: Co-Founder & Director, Community Development – United Prosperity
• Emily Gasner, Executive Director – TMC Working Solutions

I saw this in the SeaMo monthly newsletter (mailing list here), Microfinance for Institutional Investors is having a Microfinance conference in Washington DC that will bring together a panel of 50 experts from leading microfinance and financial organisations. Get more details here.

Our friends at SeaMo are throwing another great Microfinance and Microbrews event this month with Unitus.  Ed Bland, the President of Unitus, as well as members of the senior management and board, will be there for an evening of networking and an update on their expansion into East Africa.  Unfortunately I missed the last Microfinance and Microbrews event, but the two before that were really fun and were a great networking event for anybody wanting to learn more about microfinance.  If you are in the Seattle area, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Date: June 25

Time: Doors open at 5:30pm, presentation begins at 6:15

Location: Spitfire 2219 4th Ave

RSVP: Facebook Event page or by email

Suggested Donation of $5

For those in the New York city area, there’s a microfinance event in your neck of the woods this coming Wednesday worth checking out. Wokai.org, which has been covered here on myKRO before, is doing a fundraising party to celebrate the launch of their New York Chapter!

What: Wokai NYC Launch

Who: Socially conscious young professionals

Where: BLVD, 199 Bowery, New York, NY 10002

When: Wednesday, May 27th from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Why: To raise funds to help bring the 200 million people in China living on a $1 a day out of poverty.

Here’s the event program

• 8 – 9 PM: Hors d’oeuvres service
• 9 – 9:30 PM: Presentation by Casey Wilson, Wokai Co-Founder and CEO
• 10 PM: Final bids for silent auction items

Head over to EventBrite to purchase your tickets ($75 w/ t shirt, $50 without, and $40 if you are a student).

SeaMo is pleased to announce January’s Microfinance and Microbrews at The Pike Brewery (1415 1st Ave, Seattle) on Thursday, January 15th beginning at 5:30pm. This month we are featuring Casey Wilson, the Co-Founder and CEO of Wokai, a new peer-to-peer microfinance lending platform focused on the Chinese market. Casey will be talking about the nuances of microfinance in China.

Microfinance and Microbrews is a once-every-other-month gathering to learn more about microfinance and to meet others who are interested too. There is a $5 suggested donation at the door to help cover the cost of appetizers.

Washington CASH is a local microenterprise and business development training organization that serves low-income individuals here in the Puget Sound area.

Tomorrow afternoon, Washington CASH is having their 8th annual Holiday Bazaar! 30 of Washington CASH’s clients will be displaying and selling their items throughout the day. There will be a great variety of products and services including hand crafted items, food products, professional services and household items. All of the vendors at the Bazaar have started their businesses with the help of Washington CASH’s services – and many of them have seen advancements in their businesses through the help of microloans.

This is a great opportunity to not only do some christmas shopping, but to support your local businesses…and your local microenterprise organization!

Where: Northwest African American Museum, 2300 South Massachusetts Street, Seattle, WA 98144

When: November 22, 11:00a.m. – 4:00p.m.