100th anniversary of International Women’s Day -March
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of international women’s day ACCION USA is happy to highlight some of the many inspiring women microfinance loan recipients who through their small businesses make a big difference in their communities every day.
Lucia Saenz — La Licuadora — Miami, FL
Originally from Peru, Lucia’s first job was working at a small café in Miami for minimum wage, to be able to provide for her 2-year-old daughter, Lucia worked 80-90 hours a week. After learning enough about the business Lucia was able to buy her own small café thanks to money collected from savings, family and friends. Two years later, she was ready to grow and opened a second restaurant thanks to a $14,000 loan from ACCION USA. Her new restaurant, La Licuadora, Peruvian food, has helped the community by creating 13 new jobs allowing Lucia to work fewer hours and spend more time with her family
Rebecca Irfan — Little Blessings Day Care — Fitchburg, MA
Rebecca’s home-based day care center was put at risk when the piping in her restroom needed to be replaced. A $3,000 ACCION USA loan allowed Rebecca to make the repairs and keep her business, which provides family income for Rebecca and services to local low-income families, open.
Lyn Genet Recitas — Neighborhood Holistic — New York, NY
After a traditional bank left Lyn $10,000 short of opening Neighborhood Holistic, a yoga center, ACCION USA stepped in to provide the extra capital Lyn needed. Today, a previously abandoned Harlem brownstone now serves as a community center that employs 12 people and provides Lyn with family income.
Milka Luciano — Abuela’s Cocina — New York, NY
An $8,000 loan from ACCION USA helped to finance a new refrigerator, allowing Milka to keep
the business that employs her whole family up and running. Milka’s loan also allowed her to
make other business improvements that boosted revenue and her family’s income.
Women perform two-thirds of the world’s work and produce half the world’s food, but earn just 10% of the income and own 1% of the property*. Use a microloan to support women! and let them enjoy the financial independence Lucia, Rebecca, Lyn and Milka now posses.
Gain financial indepence!
Support Microfinance!
Microfinance Week In Review: Week Ending October 22
Some of the week’s news in the microfinance, green business initiatives and the small business sector:
- Microlending Meets Credit Cards (Kiva lends in the United States through the ACCION Network- CNN (Video)
- Commentary: How Community Lenders Helps Small Businesses- Bloomberg Businessweek
- Green Rankings: U.S. Companies- Newsweek
- Landing Clients is Hit or Miss- Wall Street Journal
- Turning Business Owners into Start of Their Own Stories- New York Times
Microfinance Week In Review: Week Ending September 3rd
Some of the week’s news in the microfinance, green business initiatives and the small business sector:
- The Importance of Networking- ACCION USA YouTube
- Microloan program is a big help for Small Businesses - LA Times
- U.S. Falls Short in Awarding Small Business Contracts - Wall Street Journal
- Social Media Are Easier Than You Think – The New York Times
Tags: LinkedIn, networking, news, small business, social media, tip, U.S. microfinance, United States, Week In Review
Billionaires Pledge to Give Away Half of Their Fortunes
Everybody in the non-profit sector should make sure to read the New York Times article “Pledge to Give Away Half Gains Billionaire Adherents” published yesterday.
According to Stephanie Strom close to 40 American billionaires including NYC’ Mayor Bloomberg, David Rockefeller, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett made the promise to donate at least half of their fortune to philanthropy.
The combined total of the donations will be close to $600 billion !
What do you think this means for microfinance and the non-profit sector?
Tags: LinkedIn
ACCION USA borrower becomes “Small Business of the Year”
Ever since my first day at ACCION USA, I have been dying to get the chance to get in the field to meet some of our clients in person. After all, our borrowers are the reason and inspiration for everything I do daily at ACCION USA. Finally, I was got the chance to go visit our client Carmen Ledesma, and I was more than thrilled.
I headed to Queens to visit her at her salon and esthetician school, and when I arrived she was busy running around helping students and greeting customers. She told me not to worry, she was used to it and was always busy. Lately, Carmen had been working harder than ever, but her efforts were paying off—she had just learned that she was going to receive “The Small Business of the Year Award” from New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg at Gracie Mansion.
When things calmed down for Carmen, we sat down to chat about her and her business. Before 2003, Carmen was running a successful salon when she recognized a new business opportunity. Frequently, aestheticians and hairdressers with licenses from their home countries would visit her salon inquiring about how to obtain a license in New York. Originally from Paraguay, Carmen was compelled to help women new to the U.S. find work. So, she decided to start her own aesthetician school, focusing on the Latin community and holding classes in Spanish.
Carmen says most of her business was built thanks to her loans with ACCION USA (we know her hard work had a lot to do with it), she recalls that before her first loan she only had two hair dressers on staff, and now she has nine. She also employs two doctors, one aesthetician and four class instructors.
Still, achieving this success does not mean that Carmen is ready to take a vacation! Instead, she is ready to continue growing her business by opening a second school in Astoria, Queens.
And about her well-deserved award: she says that it was completely unexpected, but she does admit this makes her really happy and she dedicates it completely to her whole staff and everyone who was so perseverant about succeeding in this wonderful project—including ACCION USA!