Join The Foundation for Women for the 13th Annual Honoring the Women in Our Lives Luncheon. This year the Foundation for Women (FFW) is celebrating women in philanthropy and those who support women and girls. To help us celebrate, keynote speaker Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD., will bring her vast experience and passion for the issues affecting women [...]
Author Archives 
Honoring the Women in Our Lives Luncheon
Interested in participating in service to assist individuals who have an amazing idea, but need some guidance and support to turn an idea into an action? A person can implement their skills and passion to serve youth, adults, and others in an anti-poverty campaign via microfinance! To learn about and see first-hand a community of [...]
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 [...]
ACCION San Diego Part-Time Marketing and Resource Manager 20-25 Hours per Week Job Description About ACCION San Diego ACCION San Diego is a non-profit organization that creates economic opportunity for start-up and existing entrepreneurs who lack access to traditional credit. The organization’s mission is to increase income and job stability for primarily low-to-moderate income [...]
San Diego’s 1st World Refugee Day Event
San Diego is the refugee resettlement capital of the world, offering more refugee families and individuals a safe haven and a chance to rebuild their lives than any other area of similar size around the globe. For years, many countries and regions have been holding various Refugee Days and even Weeks. In 2000, the UN [...]
Dana Dakin, founder of WomensTrust, will speak at annual meeting on June 5th
Women’s Empowerment is pleased to announce that Dana Dakin, founder of WomensTrust, our new partnership microfinance bank in Ghana, will speak at our annual meeting Sunday, June 5. At age 60, Dana, a former investment consultant from New Hampshire, founded WomensTrust (WT) with the goal of uplifting African women, their families and communities out 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 [...]
What is a Microfinance Alliance Partner? Meet VIA International, just one of many incredible San Diego based organizations dedicated to building “paths to self-reliance for an interdependent world!” Focus is placed on community based programs designed to improve the quality of people’s lives through nutrition and ecology training, community leadership education and microcredit and microenterprise [...]
How do you plan to celebrate 100 years of women’s economic, political and social achievements? We encourage you to join Women’s Empowerment International, International House, UCSD’s Women’s Center, EPTEAM Network, and Women Equity Council at the United Nations Association of San Diego (WECUNASD) at UCSD on March 6th for International Women’s Day! This event promises to [...]
Careers in International Development
As the New Year is underway the Center for International Development would like to invite you to consider two important questions. Firstly, can business ideas be used to address global poverty? Secondly, what kinds of careers are possible in the field of international development? If you’d like to learn the answers to these and many [...]
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 [...]
Social Change-One Class at a Time
As the fall semester of the academic year comes to a close, we would like to take a moment to highlight the efforts of two socially minded professors and their class. Dr. Judith Liu and Dr. Donald Kelly, professors in the sociology department at the University of San Diego, taught a course entitled Social Change: Global [...]
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 [...]
As a young man in college, my appreciation for a home cooked meal grew exponentially. These days a home cooked meal is almost as rare as teenager without an iPod. Fortunately, there is an upcoming event that will provide for those of us daydreaming about homemade tamales and envisioning a world without poverty. On Sunday, [...]
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 [...]
Do you know anybody interested in losing weight?
I imagine we both know that is not really a fair question. Firstly, the media in America (and other places around the world) promotes a body image that can actually be quite unhealthy. Secondly, losing weight only takes care of the surface issue of how you look. With these thoughts in mind, a better question [...]
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 [...]
Are you Interested or Committed?
If you’re reading this blog then we can both be pretty sure you’re interested…but you could also be lost. It is our hope that you are, in fact, interested and that you are ready to move closer to commitment. But what is it specifically that we hope you are interested or committed to?As a visitor [...]
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 [...]
Free Round Robin Expert Small Business Workshop!
We are very excited to invite you to an upcoming September workshop organized by our partner ACCION. During this special 3-hour event, participants will have the chance to meet with 6 different “coaches” in 20-minute increments. Before and after the round-robin, participants will have the opportunity to network with fellow small business owners, the round-robin coaches/experts, [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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.
