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

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.

“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

2010 San Diego Microfinance Summit

April 28th, 2010

8:30am-4:30pm

Sign Up Now

The San Diego Microfinance Summit will bring together students, business owners, members of the community, microlenders, bankers, and many others to learn, network, and become more involved in microfinance.  The summit will highlight both international microfinance issues as well as teach about the local micro-lending climate.  Participants will get to hear from both microfinance professionals and clients in addition to enjoying lunch and a marketplace that is provided by local clients, all financed by local microfinance organizations. The afternoon mixer will provide an opportunity for to network with students, microfinance professionals, microfinance clients and more.

The Keynote address will be given by Yeardley Smith, Emmy award-winning actor, novelist and playwright who is best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the Emmy award winning television series The Simpsons.  She is passionate about microfinance.  As a donor and volunteer, she is  partnering with Grameen Foundation on a special initiative geared toward expanding microcredit and related services to those living on less than a dollar a day.  Yeardley will share her perspectives and experiences visiting with women in Haiti, both pre- and post-earthquake and address the impact of microfinance.

Attendees will also spend the latter part of the morning hearing from a panel of professionals that work in international microfinance organizations. Afternoon break-out sessions will provide the opportunity to learn about various aspects of microfinance in a bit more depth.  Two different hour-long sessions will allow for attendees to choose from the following break-out sessions.

1. Students In Microfinance – Learn about opportunities to become more involved in microfinance from students and alumni of San Diego Univervisities.  Learn about potential internships, job opportunities, and University Microfinance Clubs.

2. Microfinance In Academia - The Microfinance in Academia session seeks to provide an overview of the developments in microfinance as it pertains to research, curriculum, and community outreach endeavors in academia.  Panelists from four major academic institutions in the San Diego region (Point Loma Nazarene University; San Diego State University; University of California, San Diego; and University of San Diego) will provide their perspectives and will outline the activities taking place in their respective institutions with respect to microfinance and allied areas. The objective of this session is to stimulate conversations and to forge partnerships among institutions, practitioners, and the community.

3. Group Lending In San Diego – While many are familiar with Grameen Bank’s village banking model, rarely has it been successfully replicated in the United States.  Chris Nayve, Associate Director of The Center For Community Learning at the University of San Diego will team up with Elena Cruz of La Maestra to talk about the partnerhsip they have established and how providing $250 loans are changing the lives of women in San Diego.  Hear from several borrowers as they share their personal story and tell first-hand how the business training and microloan from La Maestra has empowered them in their communities.

4. San Diego Microlenders - Panelists from four local Microfinance Organizations will share about the work they are doing in San Diego, how they collaborate to work together, and some strategic partnerships they have formed.  Two clients that have been served by these organizations will present about their businesses, how they utilized funding from several programs, and how the local network of MF Organizations helped them to grow their business. This session will be an interactive panel with plenty of time for Q&A and discussion with the clients.

5. Investing In Microfinance: Pro-Poor or Pro-Profit? - As microfinance continues to evolve and mature as a financial industry, more public and private dollars are becoming available to microfinance institutions (MFI’s).  Some invest  in order to help reduce poverty, others simply for a return on investment.  Persons and institutions interested in ensuring that microcredit continues to serve the poor need to be careful about where they place their investments and financial support.  In this break-out session, Terry Provance, Executive Director of Oikocredit, USA will examine current trends in microfinance, social impact and responsible investing.

A final networking hour will give all attendees a chance to enjoy drinks, light appetizers, and interact with other students, business owners, microlenders, and members of the community.

CLICK HERE

to reserve your ticket today.

For questions and comments please email info@sdmicrofinance.org

View The Flyer

To see press coverage from the last year’s summit, click here.

Click here to read the full article.

“Most supplements have extra ingredients in them, flow agents, release agents, coatings and colors, which are not desirable to all consumers,” said Thovaldsson, owner of Dr. Clark Store.

Thorvaldsson buys fresh, high-quality ingredients from top raw-material distributors.  He manufactures each product every four months to ensure high potency.  Each capsule passes through a sophisticated metal detector.

“We pay attention to both potency and purity because it ensures maximum effectiveness for the consumer,” he said.

With Dr. Clark Store clicking along at 15% growth for several years, Thorvaldsson accelerated the company’s growth by buying his main supplier and manufacturing company.  He tapped $200,000 in capital through San Diego Bankers Small Business CDC, managed by CDC Small Business Finance.  The loan provided leverage to obtain additional capital from the San Diego Regional Revolving Loan Fund.

Thorvaldsson used the cash injection to purchase a 5,000 square-foot manufacturing/warehousing facility in Chula Vista, California and finance inventory.

“CDC and Susan Lamping (loan coordinator) worked in concert with the other lender and seller to keep the ball rolling,” he said.  “They were instrumental in making it happen.”

CDC Small Business Finance is a partner of the San Diego Microfinance Alliance whose mission is to champion the growth of diverse small companies in our communities by drawing on our unparalleled expertise in delivering unique capital solutions. They provide loans to local business owners and start-ups that range from $10,000 to $2,000,000.

CDC offers fixed-rate, low down-payment, commercial real estate loans for the purchase of office and industrial buildings. CDC also offers an array of community loan programs focusing on women, minority and veteran-owned businesses – those small businesses that face the greatest obstacles to securing capital.  Additionally, in 2005 CDC created the Direct Capital loan programs, which provide financing through Community Reinvestment Fund to help small businesses, including nonprofits, in qualified areas.

To learn more about CDC Small Business Finance Click Here