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.

This move from gains in financial knowledge toward putting these skills into practice has been termed ‘financial capability’. A commitment to building financial capability is growing amongst microenterprise organizations, as discussed by the Aspen Institute’s FIELD program’s new white paper on the topic.  Microenterprise organizations like ACCION USA use financial products coupled with financial education, allowing microentrepreneurs to not just learn about managing finances, but to effectively put that knowledge into practice with a financial product.

How is ACCION USA building financial capability?  ACCION USA’s small business loans, secured loans (guaranteed with the money of the applicant) and small dollar credit builder loans (for individuals with no credit history) allow microentrepreneurs to build a strong installment credit history through on-time payments over an extended period of time.  Financial education on credit and other small business fundamentals is provided by AUSA staff throughout the application process and the life of a small business loan, building skills around credit management that lead to long-term financial success.

Keep your eyes peeled for new tools that are emerging to support work around financial education for microentrepreneurs, like ACCION USA’s e-learning course on credit, or other web-based training sites like assetplatform.org.

The article pulls in great stats from the Aspen Institute, which tracked increases in U.S. microloan applications at 66% of lenders over the past two years, as well as an aggregate $68.6 million lent in 2008. (In the Tooting-our-Own-Horn Department: U.S. ACCION affiliates lent a combined $31.4 million in 2008 – or 46% of the industry total reported by the Aspen Institute.)

Growing along with demand are interest in and support for the industry. Over 700 individuals (including California First Lady Maria Shriver) attended the first national microfinance conference last month, and donations from private individuals are up.

All of this is helping to unlock the potential of the field; and more importantly, that of the small businesses it aids.

As William Ortiz-Cartagena, microfinance borrower and owner of a San Francisco parking company, put it, “It’s like David and Goliath, and Opportunity Fund is my slingshot.”

Read the full article at Businessweek.com.

Over 100 ACCION USA clients completed the 2009 MicroTest Client Outcomes Survey.

Despite an extremely challenging environment for small businesses during 2007-2009, the vast majority of ACCION USA clients managed to sustain their businesses, with many creating new jobs. So says a new report made possible by the hard work of two intrepid summer interns (thank you Max and Kathryn!) and the Aspen Institute’s MicroTest Client Outcomes Survey project.  You can read the full report here.

To generate the data in the report, ACCION USA surveyed over 100 clients who had received microloans in 2007.  We questioned them on number of employees, business contributions to household income, owners’ draw, etc.  By comparing responses to those in the clients’ loan applications, we found several important longitudinal results, including:

• Job creation. Client businesses that received loans created or retained on average 2.4 jobs (not counting the owner), predominantly in low- to moderate-income communities.
• Wage increases. The median hourly wage provided by businesses owned by ACCION USA borrowers ($9 an hour) is 24% higher than the federal minimum wage.
• Business survival. 98% of existing businesses were still in business by year-end 2008 (compared to a national average of 70%).

2009 was a year marked by debate about how to measure the impact of microfinance in the developing world. Here in the U.S., MicroTest remains the gold standard for measuring client outcomes, and ACCION USA is pleased to participate in this project.  We look forward to teaming up with the Aspen Institute once again in 2010. (And we’re looking for interns to help!)