The date for the 2012 San Diego Microfinance Summit event has officially been announced!! The event will be held Wednesday, April 4th at the University of San Diego. Please update your calendars, and continue to check here for more updates in the coming months! We look forward to seeing you there!
Tag archive for ‘Microfinance’
2012 Microfinance Summit Date Announced!!!
Microfinance Investment Transparency & Evaluation Webinar
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 [...]
Success Story from Foundation for Women
Meet Foundation for Women (FFW) microcredit borrower, Malou Gibson, who is now on her second FFW loan cycle with the Foundation for Women. Malou is a Holistic Health Care Practitioner who worked for various spas in San Diego by day and did computer work for hospitals at night, sneaking in a few hours of sleep [...]
As we begin the New Year, I’d like to take a moment to reflect. When we think about all that The San Diego Microfinance Alliance and its partners have done throughout 2010 it is amazing. When we think about how much more there is to do, it can be both exciting and overwhelming. For those [...]
In a recent press release, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the introduction of a free guidebook for small business owners. This guidebook is the result of collaboration between SBA and Microsoft. The guidebook is called Business Technology Simplified and it was created with the intent of helping small business owners navigate the already [...]
Microfinance at USD’s Alternative Gift Fair
Each year around Thanksgiving we begin to hear Christmas music on the radio and see holiday decorations at the mall. This time of year generally corresponds to large discounts and preparing gift lists for those special people in our lives. However, what do we get for someone that seems to have it all? What do [...]
Microfinance Means More than Mini Money Management
When we hear the word “microfinance”, support and encouragement may not be the first words that come to mind. However, with the growth in awareness of microfinance initiatives these words are likely to follow shortly after one’s initial thoughts. To further illustrate the relationship between microfinance and the support & encouragement it produces, I’d like [...]
Despite advances in technology, it remains difficult to support others from a distance. From a distance, it is easier to misunderstand the support others really need. From a distance, it is easier to minimize the severity of the situation in which others find themselves. From a distance, it is easier to get distracted with our [...]
Building Friendships, Building Business
Each Tuesday morning a group of like minded women gather to celebrate the past week’s successes, learn from the past week’s setbacks and support each other as they build their businesses. There are many groups like this around San Diego and around the world. However, working with this group has given us a glimpse into [...]
Calling All Women in Business: 2 Hours to Empower & Inspire
Attention all female entrepreneurs and those that support them. Next Thursday, October 28th, is a wonderful opportunity for both existing & aspiring female entrepreneurs to learn more about how they can begin to make their dreams a reality! Interested yet? Well, read on. ACCION San Diego has brought together community partners and local businesses to present [...]
Virtual Conference Promotes Real Progress
Can you remember the last conference you attended? Was it out of town? How much was the registration fee (Not to mention the travel expenses)? Do you remember how you decided whether or not you would attend? In most cases, we compare the costs and benefits of investing in the educational opportunity and if the [...]
Meet the International Rescue Committee
San Diego is home to one of the International Rescue Committee’s 22 United States resettlement offices, which together have helped 20,000 newly arrived refugees resettle upon arrival and then navigate their new environment and incorporate into the culture. The goal is to help refugees survive and thrive in the U.S. Since 2000, IRC San Diego’s [...]
Meet the Foundation for Women: An Alliance Partner
The Foundation for Women is a nonprofit organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. By providing these women with the funds and proper tools for a successful business endeavor, they are able to support their families and help their local communities grow. [...]
Microfinance Spotlight: Rocio – Handmade Crafts
Microfinance Spotlight: Rocio works with La Maestra, a SDMFA partner. “It feels good to be able to do something after I had the stroke and to have the chance to teach positive things to people. I helped a blind Cuban woman make her own purses, and that was very satisfying because it helped this woman [...]
Muhammad Yunus and Lisa Simpson
Yeardley Smith, commonly known as the voice of Lisa Simpson, is one of several celebrity figures that have enthusiastically supported microfinance in recent years. Smith was the plenary speaker at the 2010 San Diego Microfinance Summit that was held this past April at the University of San Diego. Sharing from her experience of visiting Fonkoze, one of [...]
Loan Local, Helping California Businesses
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 [...]
Community Development Spotlight: Promotoras Project
Through an innovative promotoria (community outreach) initiative, Via International (a partner of the SDMFA) and Los Niños have been able to support the development of promotoras (female outreach workers) and assist them in breaking the cycle of poverty and improving quality of life for themselves, their families, and their communities. In collaboration with the Universidad [...]
Local Events Geared Towards Small Business Owners
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 [...]
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 [...]
Help Alleviate Poverty Through Microcredit: Event
Join us for the “How to Responsibly Invest in Microfinance” speaker event here in San Diego on July 15th. Terry Provance, Executive Director of OikoCredit USA, will give a detailed presentation on how you can begin making financial investments that impact the lives of the working poor around the globe. Mr. Provance presented at this [...]
The History of Microfinance in the U.S.
The Opportunity Fund developed a microlending timeline, complete with a one page overview of the history of microfinance in the U.S. for their annual conference. The timeline stretches from 1973, when ShoreBank Corporation began to provide investment capital to business owners who were denied access to credit by larger financial institutions, to 2010 when the first [...]
There are 800 million rural subsistence farmers around the world and each one of them are relying on their land for survival. Many farmers have to use slash and burn agriculture to create more land to plant cash crops or clear cut forests to produce charcoal and provide enough income to support their families. These [...]
Documentary On Microfinance In San Diego
Collaborative Capital is a 20 minute documentary that paints a picture of domestic microfinance in San Diego. Produced by Kaley Hearnsberger, recent graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University, the film interviews local microlenders and local borrowers to illustrate how microfinance is empowering individuals, creating jobs, and helping entrepreneurs live out their dreams. The film also [...]
Free Social Media Class for Small Businesses
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 [...]
2010 Microfinance USA Conference
Join leading practitioners of microfinance in the U.S. for the 2010 Microfinance USA conference (in San Francisco). Drawing upon the overwhelming success and momentum generated by the 2009 Microfinance, CA conference, Microfinance USA will bring together investors, policymakers, social entrepreneurs, practitioners, small business owners, and curious individuals to explore how microfinance produces jobs, increases incomes, [...]
2010 Summit Draws Interest In Investing
An influx of investor capital into microfinance has prompted the industry to re-examine its mission and purpose, one speaker at the San Diego Microfinance Summit said Wednesday. “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 [...]
2nd Annual Microfinance Summit In San Diego
The San Diego Microfinance Summit will take place April 28th from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. The 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.
$2 Dollar Challenge Hits San Diego Campuses
The Two Dollar Challenge (TDC) is an organization made up almost entirely of students who are working to bring the realities of poverty into the public eye and find solutions to issues that many are passionate about. Nearly half of the world’s population lives on only $2 per day. For one week they’re asking college [...]
Young Ambassadors For Opportunity Meet In San Diego
Looking for a way to get involved with other like minded individuals and raise support and awareness for microfinance? Come and meet the newly formed Young Ambassadors For Opportunity Chapter here in San Diego. See Anne’s invitation below. Join us for an evening of inspiration as we share with you the mission of Young Ambassadors [...]
Microfinance Spotlight: IRC Microenterprise
The IRC Microenterprise Program was established in 2001 to provide refugees and asylees a way to overcome the challenges they faced with self-employment and small business development in the United States. The program specializes in one-on-one technical assistance, or business consulting, but also provides loans up to $15,000 to help refugees start or expand their [...]
ACCION San Diego Client Spotlight SWEET TREATS The Hip, Sleek Ice-Cream Truck for the Young at Heart! Picture an old school ice cream truck transformed to look like a 1950′s Hot Rod. Then add a killer stereo system, along with a selection of the finest quality ice cream bars, gourmet cookies & brownies, hot drinks, snacks, [...]
Grameen Foundation helps the world’s poorest, especially women, improve their lives and escape poverty through access to microfinance and technology. By leveraging large scale, easy-to-replicate solutions to end the cycle of poverty in developing countries around the world they are able to leverage the knowledge and expertise of local partners to create the most effective programs [...]
Partnership Helps Small Biz Secure Much-Needed Financing
The San Diego Business Journal posted an article on the CDC, an SDMFA partner, and its collaboration with two local nonprofits to help small business owners receive necessary financing. Click here to read the full article.
Mobile Technology and Microfinance
One of the most promising developments I have seen in my travels in the last few years is the proliferation of mobile phones. You could find them across the most distant reaches of India, and even in the poorest parts of Liberia you will find mobile phones and the towers that connect them to the [...]
Local Finance Helps Create Dr. Clark Store
Purity means everything to Oskar Thorvaldsson because he wants his nutrition supplement products to have the maximum impact on his customers’ health. “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 [...]
One of the most dramatic effects of the Liberian Civil War was the massive migration to Monrovia of displaced peoples from all over the country. As various rebel groups pillaged and plundered throughout the Liberian countryside, rural Liberians found it harder and harder to live as they had in the past. As their small businesses [...]
Fostering a Liberian Entrepreneurial Spirit
Shopping in the commercial district of downtown Monrovia is eerie. Foreigners own almost every single business of note. The Lebanese presence here is strong, and their hold on commerce in the city is rather alarming. More recently Indian businessmen have moved in, but their presence here is less pronounced, especially compared to East Africa. Why [...]
Today we went to visit some of the centers in the countryside. First we went to Gbowee Town which was about an hour and a half outside of Monrovia. To get to the road to Gbowee town, we drove across Monrovia’s only bridge (the other one is near by, but collapsed) and past the “free [...]
Here is the Press Release from the Office of the Vice President. I have chosen to leave it as is. What the PR man heard is not necessarily what we said in some cases, but overall it was a wonderful experience meeting the VP. International foundation empowers Liberian women… Vice president Joseph Boakai has commended [...]
One of the biggest differences between the “developing” world and the “developed” world is the understanding and conception of time. Here, folks are laid back, and instead of scheduling meetings at 2 they schedule the meetings at “any time after 2.” Things always seemed to get pushed back until tomorrow, and in general stuff takes [...]
So my first day in Monrovia consisted of familiarizing myself with the community. I was expecting to bear witness to overwhelming poverty, a direct result of the catastrophic civil war this country dealt with for decades, and I did. What surprised me however, was seeing the detachment and almost parallel universe in which the development [...]
Microlending in Liberia with the Foundation for Women
I just arrived in Liberia last night after a harrowing tri-continent journey. As a surfer, I am excited to explore a new coastline, as a traveler I am excited to explore a new continent, and as a microfinance practitioner, I am excited to work on a new project. I am a native San Diegan, die-hard [...]
