Welcome ACCIONISTA Summer Interns!
CEO Paul Quintero inspiring us to think beyond any limits we have set for ourselves
On Wednesday we had a orientation at ACCION USA for our summer interns- 14 interns joined from New York and remotely from Atlanta and Boston through our gotomeeting platform and via Skype.
A few of the most memorable moments were when our “historian” Carmen told stories about our first clients, seeing the interns in Boston live through Skype video and of course, our CEO Paul Quintero uplifting everyone’s spirits and dreams about the limitless possibilities at ACCION USA.
A warm welcome to our entire Summer ACCION USA intern brigade!
In Atlanta:
- David McNeill is a Lending and Outreach Intern who recently returned from his Kiva Fellowship in Sierra Leon- he is very excited about combining his international microfinance experience with work in Atlanta at ACCION USA.
In New York:
- Airi Kobayashi is a Communications Intern studying IT Business at Notre Dame University. Airi speaks Japanese and Mandarin and has worked in marketing, technology, and design.
- Alvaro Gutierrez is a Lending Intern. Alvaro studied Business Administration and has experience teaching and working with entrepreneurs in his home country of Chile. Alvaro also worked as an Business Executive in The Nielsen Company.
- Kimberly Edwards is a Lending and Financial Education Intern from Columbia University doing her year-long field placement at ACCION USA. Kimberly has previous microfinance experience working at Self Help in North Carolina.
- Alicia Quinn is a Volunteer Partnerships and Business Development Intern. Alicia is graduate intern from Columbia University doing her year-long field placement at ACCION USA. Alicia worked in health care administration for 7 years in Vail, Colorado.
- Etel Echevarria is a Lending Intern. A native to Argentina, Etel is completing her MPA at City University of New York. Etel previously interned at Make The Road New York.
- Matt Roth is a Lending In tern. Matt recently returned from the Peace Corps in El Salvador and is also working part-time in homeless outreach in New York City.
- Lauren Yothers is a Communications Intern who studied at the University of Miami. Lauren speaks Spanish and Portuguese and also worked in community development with a renowned activist and anthropologist in Haiti.
- Mauricio Delgado is a Lending Intern. A native to Ecuador, Mauricio completed his Business Administration degree from Queens college. Mauricio has many experiences working with small business in his home country and in the U.S.
- John Remson is a Resource De velopment Intern. John recently graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Government and Politics. John previously worked as an enumerator for the United States Census Bureau.
- Marisa Casellas is the Kiva Intern and a graduate student at NYU Wagner. Marisa worked for three years at the Hispanic Federation of New York and is fluent in Spanish and Italian.
In Boston:
- Hajar Elaalej is a lending summer interns. Hajar recently graduated from Boston University with a double major in Economics and International Relations. She is from Morocco however, moved to Boston to finish her studies in 2008. She served at BU as the President of the Arab-Israeli Peace Alliance.
- Brinya Bjork is a Microtest Inte rn studying Business Administration from Notre Dame University. She has many experienences working as an advocate for the disabled, immigrant, women, homesless, and victims of natural disaster.
- Ryan Quillard is a Microtest Intern hailing from the University of Notre Dame where he studies Business Adminisatration. He has interned and/or worked at the Center For Homesless, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and as a swimming instructor in New Orleans.
- Carolyn McMahon is Managing Intern for Microtest. She is completing her Masters degree from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She has vast experience in Justice working at a microcredit bank in Senegal, with a peace and justice organizations in San Fransc iso and San Deigo. She is driven to combine her experience and knowledge of microfinance with peace building initiatives.
Welcome to our newest Accionistas-Much of the success of ACCION USA is owed to the extraordinary talent and efforts of interns and volunteers.
- New York Interns returning from lunch at client restaurant, Dardanel
Tags: accion, accion usa, Aspen Institute, kiva, kiva fellows, microfinance, microtest
Microfinance: What’s In It for Today’s Teens?
This post is presented as part of our Youth Microfinance blog series. By nurturing student thought leadership, ACCION USA is helping to build future leadership for the microfinance industry as a whole. We hope that you’ll enjoy the ideas and perspectives of ACCION USA’s youth leaders as well as Main Street Microfinance’s regular posts from industry professionals.
By: Percy Allison
What attracts a high school senior to microfinance?
It may be hard to draw the comparison between a stu![soccer2.jpg_0[1]](http://www.accionusa.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/soccer2.jpg_01.jpg)
dent’s soccer struggle and the effort of the entrepreneur, but I would argue that the raw similarities are surprisingly real.
During four years of struggling to become the varsity starting goalie I learned about risk, drive, persistence and perseverance.
Every entrepreneur is taking a risk. They are starting their own business. They are taking a chance to succeed. Every young person takes risks. Every young person needs someone to give them a chance to prove to the world that they too can do it. Whether it is the teacher staying after class and giving an inspirational pep talk or the football coach giving the quarterback another chance after he threw the game-losing interception – every young person needs someone to believe in them – and so does the entrepreneur.
This is why so many young people are fired up by microfinance. It is other people being creative and finding their own way. So are we. It is other people putting their heart out for something. So are we. It is other people being courageous, intelligent and believing in themselves and more importantly believing in the world to support them. I guess that is the big thing. They believe. As young people, that is the most important thing. We believe. We are new to life and we believe in it. We want to find our way. These entrepreneurs share that same contagious passion. How could we not be inspired? How could we not see ourselves in the ACCION USA client?
There are a ton of organizations and a variety of ways to help alleviate poverty and do good. But among all of those, microfinance finds a special place in the heart of teens. In this way, helping the entrepreneur is like helping ourselves — seeing them achieve is seeing ourselves achieve. And it all is confirming our belief that in the end, success is believing in yourself.
My Five Tenets for U.S. Microfinance
This post is presented as part of our Youth Microfinance blog series. By nurturing student thought leadership, ACCION USA is helping to build future leadership for the microfinance industry as a whole. We hope that you’ll enjoy the ideas and perspectives of ACCION USA’s youth leaders as well as Main Street Microfinance’s regular posts from industry professionals.
By Jameson Lee
Growing up in Orange County, California as a seventeen-year-old high school student, I have been fortunate enough to avoid the extreme cases of debt, lack of food, water or shelter that affect a large percentage of the world today. Introduced to microfinance by a teacher at my school, I soon recognized the potential that such a system holds to combat poverty.
While I do believe that helping business owners in developing nations will help to balance the financial inequality felt throughout the world, U.S. microfinance deserves equal attention, with the current economic times making it harder than ever for businesses to qualify for loans. Motivated to make a difference, I hope to reach out to my fellow teenagers to help spread the word about the power of microfinance.
I’ve read everything about microfinance that I can get my hands on, and came across Muhammad Yunus’s “16 Decisions.” I found them to be powerful messages for entrepreneurs in developing countries to move towards better social environments. Yet I believe that in an environment where concerns such as access to technology, transportation, education and safety are less significant, business owners in developed nations must have their own personalized guidelines.
I gave some thought to the “16 decisions” of Muhammad Yunus and felt inspired to think about a few that would be well-suited for U.S. microfinance.
Here are my “5 tenets” for U.S. entrepreneurs.
- To demonstrate independence, ambition, innovation and creativity in all aspects of life.
- To work within our means while also looking for economic opportunities in both local and foreign markets.
- To maintain a healthy social lifestyle to foster an ideal learning environment in which all family members can succeed in their own endeavors.
- To be economical in all aspects, making sure to place the welfare of family and business before oneself.
- To never take on more responsibility than can be managed, and to immediately confront issues concerning debt, education and living expenses.
Exposed to the change enacted by ACCION USA, I found such an MFI to be the logical organization to contact in my search for ways to influence my own community. While the need for microfinance in Orange County, California where I live may be less prevalent than other communities, by working alongside such an organization like ACCION USA, I hope to directly influence the lives of others in order to help business owners help themselves. As an advocate for microfinance, I look forward to the chance that it can give to local entrepreneurs, and to the entire world.
Jameson Lee is a teen blogger interested in microfinance, social business, entrepreneurship and helping small business owners to help themselves. His work focuses on explaining the fundamentals of Microfinance, while also questioning the basics foundations for a circumferential understanding of the system. You can follow his work at www.TheRevelationist.com or follow him on twitter @TRevelationist