Indonesia is the newest country to dedicate itself to reducing poverty through microfinance.  The country’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that microfinance is an effective way to reduce poverty, unemployment, and create more jobs at the 2012 International Microfinance Convention. This two-day conference was hosted by Indonesia’s Ministry of Cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprises, and featured 420 participants from twenty-three countries. The president stressed the importance of helping lower income people who do not have access to conventional banking.  Indonesia has already achieved progress in the microfinance field through their people’s entrepreneurship credit program (KUR) launched in 2007 with seven million borrowers.  More than 70,000 microfinance institutions have been helping micro-businesses in Indonesia, which have provided jobs to millions of people and stimulated domestic spending.  The final goal in Indonesia is to advance micro, small, and medium enterprises through microfinance, empower the local community, and bring prosperity for all the people.

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About Katherine Rodota

Katherine is a recent graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where she studied International Business and French. She is currently working at a private equity firm in the San Francisco Bay Area. Katherine loves to travel, and recently spent her summer volunteering in Mauritius.