Now more than ever, in the microfinance industry,  transparency and objective evaluation is needed to rise above criticism and offer stakeholders a realistic perspective on the risk and returns related to microfinance investment. Chuck Waterfield, founder of MFTransparency, and Sebastian von Stauffenberg, CEO of MicroRate, will host a webinar focusing specifically on the role of investors in helping to facilitate transparent pricing and on how investors can benefit from a market where MFI pricing is transparent.

The webinar will take place on July 20th from 4:00 – 5:30p.m. If you are interested in participating in the webinar, please click here to register or to attain further information about the webinar and its presenters.

About Chuck Waterfield

Chuck Waterfield founded MFTransparency in 2008 in order to facilitate transparent financial pricing among MFIs all over the world. Chuck will focus on the role of investors in helping to facilitate transparent pricing and on how investors can benefit from a market where MFI pricing is transparent. Chuck will also speak about the role of transparent pricing in responsible investment.

About Sebastian von Stauffenberg
n 1997, MicroRate was founded as the first rating agency to specialize in microfinance.  It’s goal is to increase transparency as a means of facilitating an increase of informed investment into microfinance. MicroR

ate evaluates areas such as governance, portfolio quality, management and operations, financial and social performance in both microfinance institutions as well as microfinance investment vehicles. MicroRate evaluations help investors measure risks and returns on their investments in microfinance. Sebastian von Stauffenberg, CEO of MicroRate and former General Manager of its Latin American operations will speak about the landscape of microfinance evaluation, addressing trends and as well as other observations from his participation in industry initiatives such as the Smart Campaign certification committee and Social Performance Taskforce.

Saturday April 16th from 8am-2:30pm!

• Discuss your financing needs in a one-on-one consultation
• Obtain information from business resource providers & lenders
• Hear from other successful business owners
• Attend workshops conducted by panels of experts (Sources of unconventional financing & what it takes to qualify, Commercial real estate & leasing options,   Understanding procurement & contracts, Government loan & incentive options)

Expo Location:

Doubletree Hotel San Diego – Mission Valley
7450 Hazard Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92108

REGISTER TODAY online or call (619) 795-7260

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa

I believe the wisdom from Mother Teresa’s quote is most strongly felt within our hearts. When we begin careers or get involved in service it is likely that we believe, doing our best is good enough. Unfortunately, in many cases shortly after our initial enthusiasm, we come face to face with the needs of the community that are beyond our ability. This realization can be both a blessing and a curse. I would contend that the difference in its impact comes from within our own mindset and attitude.

Realizing that the needs of the communities we serve are beyond our abilities can be a curse if we do not develop sufficient faith in ourselves. The realization can be a curse if we feel we have already failed. It can be a curse if it causes us to doubt our efforts and become immobilized.  However, realizing the community we serve needs more than we can offer can also be seen as a blessing.

Realizing the needs of the community are beyond our current ability is a blessing because it calls us to look beyond ourselves. This process helps us to maintain perspective and learn humility. This process reminds us that our efforts are less about being everything to everyone and more about becoming something to someone.  Progress and innovation are the result of the need to develop beyond current capacity. Teamwork and community involvement build relationships that may otherwise fail to develop.

The San Diego Microfinance Alliance and its partners are a wonderful example of this reality. One can imagine that the small group of people that came together to form the alliance realized that they needed more help to serve more people. We can all see the progress, innovation, teamwork, and community involvement that the alliance has created within the San Diego community. The alliance currently has 13 partners committed to perpetuating and sharing the benefits of microfinance. May our work together continue to challenge us to reach new levels of service, education and community development!

Until next time, take care!

Written by Daniel Valcazar II, USD student

ACCION San Diego has brought together community partners and local businesses to present on three important aspects of the business growth process. There will be three separate panels presenting simultaneously so each participant can determine which panel is most relevant to their current situation. The panels include: Starting your Business, Financing your Business, and Promoting your Business.

The event is called the Women’s Empowerment Multicultural Business Luncheon and it seeks to assist women in “realizing their entrepreneurial dreams by identifying and connecting them with resources that can help them succeed.” The event will be held at the Jacobs Center, only costs $15 (for the first 100 participants), and includes lunch! 

The event will be a great opportunity to connect with like-minded women and learn from the experienced panelists. The Starting your Business panel will cover the top ten things entrepreneurs should consider before starting their business. The Financing your Business panel will share creative financing and non-traditional lending options for those interested in extra support or the chance to expand their business. Lastly, the Promoting your Business panel will unveil innovative marketing strategies to leverage and promote your business. Whatever your interests or needs may be you will walk away with new knowledge and the confidence that there are others to support you along the way. 

To sign up for the event please visit, http://www.marketcreekevents.com/payment.htm or call Kimberly Pecox at 619-527-6161 ext. 150 by October 22, 2010. 

Written by Daniel Valcazar II, USD Student

Peter DaSilva for The New York Times.

Amanda Keppert, pictured above, obtained a $6,500 loan at a 6.5% interest rate  through the Opportunity Fund (a California microlender). Prior to accepting a microfinance loan, Amanda applied and was rejected for loans at traditional banks. Keppert believes she would have lost Mandy’s Korner, her hot dog stand, if it weren’t for the microfinance loan she was able to secure.

Keppert’s microfinance loan is part of a pilot program that has been available in California and New Your since last summer. Kiva uploads profiles of small businesses to inspire donations from site visitors and  disperses the loans through local microfinance organizations like ACCION USA and the Opportunity Fund.  Since the inception of this program, 137 American companies have been helped through microfinance loans.

In an ailing economy, people are inspired to help others in their own communities and Kiva’s pilot program enables individuals to do so. “People are compelled to do something in their backyard,” said Gina Harman, president and chief executive of Accion USA, a microlender and partner in Kiva’s American pilot program.

For the full story on Keppart’s hot dog stand and others helped through this new pilot project, read the New York Times: With Credit Tight Microlending Blossoms.

SDMFA partner ACCION is holding two events in San Diego that are geared towards small business owners. You can find more information about both events, and other microfinance-related activities by visiting our local events calendar.

This Thursday, ACCION is holding a Multicultural Women’s Business Luncheon. The luncheon will feature internationally acclaimed speaker Dee Sanford, who will speak about starting you own business. Attendees will also learn how to effectively use social media to promote small businesses and will have the opportunity to interact with event sponsors who will be sharing information on small business financing, banking, marketing, and more!

When: Thursday, July 20^th from 11:30am – 1:00pm
Where: Joe & Vi Jacobs Center, Celebration Hall – 404 Euclid Ave, San Diego, 92114.
Cost: Tickets cost $15 per person.
RSVP: If you are interested, please RSVP to Kimberly Pecox at 619-527-6161 x 150

This Saturday, ACCION is having a Debt Management for the Small Business Owner workshop. If your personal debt is affecting your business, this workshop can help! ACCION San Diego is partnering with SpendSmart.org’s CEO and a Workplace Financial Wellness Expert to host an “Invest in Your Debt” event.

When: Saturday, July 24^th 10am – 12:00pm (please arrive 15 minutes early to sign in)
Where: The Joe & Vi Jacobs Center – 404 Euclid Ave. San Diego, 92114
Cost: FREE!
RSVP: If you are interested in this event, please RSVP to jvanderstad@accionsandiego.org.

Lucy Ludwig of Ludwig Law Firm, A.P.C.

ACCION Client Spotlight

Ludwig Law Firm, A.P.C.

Lucy Ludwig works as an attorney out of her 1940′s two-bedroom, ocher-colored stucco house in Normal Heights. Armed with a J.D. from California Western School of Law, a L.L.M. from the University of San Diego, and a bilingual skill-set, she opened the doors of Ludwig Law Firm in June 2009. Although it is a full-service law firm, Ludwig specializes in assisting clients with IRS and California Franchise Tax Board problems and filing for bankruptcy.

Ludwig began her law career in 2006 as a public defender. After two months of back-to-back court cases and working menacingly long hours, Ludwig realized that she had not chosen the right path for herself. “I need to have a relationship with my client,” Ludwig says. With nine court trials lined up in just her first month as a public defender, that task proved impossible.

Thus, after only two months with the Public Defender’s Office, Ludwig decided to change her career course. She accepted a position with a tax firm in San Diego. During her employment there the company went under, and she realized that the time was ripe for her to start her own business.

Determined and eager for a fresh start, Ludwig set out to advertise her new firm by systematically visiting tax preparation companies to inform the owners that she was open for business. One of the companies Lucy visited was McDaniel Tax & Administrative Services, a current ACCION San Diego client, and the company shared loan program information with her.

Ludwig applied for a loan from ACCION in May 2009 and received $3,000 in “a quick couple of weeks,” she says. With the loan, she bought the software to build a business website and hired a marketing coach. She believes both have played a pivotal role in strengthening her business from the start.

Above all, it was ACCION’s community-based method that gave her the support she needed as a new business owner. “ACCION is small and has ties to the community,” Ludwig explains.

For the time being, Ludwig does all of the work herself. Her long-term goals are to expand her business, hire employees, and open an office outside of her home.

It is Ludwig’s dedication and commitment to her clients that keeps her business strong. At the end of her tenure with her last employer, Ludwig sent out letters to all the company’s former clients who were suddenly left with no representation, in part because she felt the responsibility of serving the clients who, in her opinion, were left high and dry. In her letter she explained the company’s reason for closure and stated that she would like to continue a working relationship under her new firm. Three-quarters of her former employer’s clients have joined forces with her in the past year.

“Clients are scared of their situation [with their tax problems and the IRS], so they need someone to take control,” Ludwig says. “I need to have patience and be a counselor.” Above all, Ludwig not only educates her clients on their options and helps them find workable solutions, but builds a personal relationship and ensures they that they never have to face the IRS alone.

Article By: Barbara Marchini, ACCION San Diego Volunteer

ACCION is a partner of the San Diego Microfinance Alliance.

Ludwig Law Firm, A.P.C.
Phone: 619-281-8741
Email: lucy@ludwiglegal.com
Website: http://www.ludwiglegal.com/

The documentary was recently shown at the 2010 San Diego Microfinance Summit at the University of San Diego.

To view more of Kaley’s work you can visit her website at http://yourplatform.wordpress.com/about/

Collaborative Capital from Kaley Hearnsberger on Vimeo.

Want to start a twitter, facebook, and blog for your business, but aren’t sure how to start? San Diego Microfinance Alliance’s partner, ACCION, is having a free social media class for small businesses. The class is split up into two parts: a social networking 101 and preparing your bolg or landing page to get the most traffic.

Social media is an effective and relatively inexpensive way to spread the word about your business. Learn from an industry expert at ACCION’s class.

What: Social Media Class

Where: The Joe and Vi Jacobs Center – 404 Euclid Avenue, San Diego 92114 (workshop will be held in Community Room G on the first floor).

When: June 12, from 9:45am – 12:00pm.

Who: ACCION and Shawn Record, Account Executive for Ebsi Websites.

If you are interested in attending this course, please RSVP via email jvanderstad@accionsandiego.org or call 619-795-7250, ext 409.

“You’re having a bifurcation in the industry,” said Terry Provance, executive director of international private microcredit provider Oikocredit. “With the overflow into microcredit now, that money has become a temptation. More people are now interested in profitability.”

Microfinance, or microcredit, involves the extension of small loans to poor people who do not have access to standard loans. Loans can be as little as $25 or as much as $35,000 and are often directed at the impoverished in developing countries.

Still, San Diego alone is home to more than a dozen organizations that offer some sort of microfinance program — if not solely focusing on microfinance. Some focus their efforts abroad, while others aim to help local low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs with little creditit history and/or new immigrants.

Provance, one of several presenters at the full-day summit at the University of San Diego, described how individual and institutional investors’ dollars have flooded into the microfinance space within the last three or four years — particularly after Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

As of 2009, there were more than 100 microfinance investment vehicles — private funds like Oikocredit that provide a way to invest in microfinance institutions, or MFIs — as opposed to just more than 40 MIVs around the world in 2004.

To read the full article by Rebecca Go with the San Diego Daily Transcript please visit. http://www.sddt.com/Finance/article.cfm?SourceCode=20100429czh

Terry Provance was one of the presenters at the San Diego Microfinance Summit. Nearly 240 individuals attended the event to learn more about microfinance in San Diego, as well as topics and issues impacting the international microfinance industry.  The event was deemed a success after selling out for the second year in a row.  To learn more about the speakers and organizations represented at the Summit please CLICK HERE