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
Students + U.S. Microfinance = Three Reasons to Blog
I have three reasons to blog today, and all three relate to college students and U.S. microfinance.
1. Microfinance USA conference (MFUSA)
The conference takes place in San Francisco from May 20-21, and includes keynote speakers Maria Shriver and Gavin Newsom. “A Living History: U.S. Microfinance Past, Present and Future” and “Leveraging Partnerships to Reach Millions” are two of the panels to which I am most looking forward. I also can’t wait to meet some of the 200 students that will be in attendance at the conference. I’ll be moderating a panel on student-led microfinance to talk with various stakeholders in microfinance initiatives on campuses across the U.S. and discuss their strengths, challenges, and impact. I hope to see you there!
2. A video about a lemonade stand
Recently ACCION USA ran a “Twitition” (A competition on Twitter) in which three student groups competed to win two trips to the Microfinance USA conference. In addition to tweeting in support of ACCION USA, the students held events on their campus to raise awareness about U.S. microfinance. I’d like to congratulate Global Youth Connection from the College of Wooster (Ohio), which won the Twitition and will be attending the conference next week. Because most students are more familiar with international microfinance, Global Youth Connection became an important voice for U.S. microfinance. Check out the video about their lemonade stand!
3. Tonight’s meeting with the Microfinance Council (MFC)
ACCION USA has a core group of volunteers called the Microfinance Council that is nearly 300 members strong. Tonight I will be meeting with them to discuss ACCION USA’s initiatives with campus microfinance clubs. The MFC will be heading up a project to manage partnerships between ACCION USA and student groups that are interested building awareness, fundraising, and bringing access to microloans in their communities. The MFC is essential in spearheading research into new products and partnerships at ACCION USA. We look forward to sharing with you the fruits of our work!
Working with students over the past few months, I have learned a great deal about their creativity and dedication to a cause. ACCION USA plans to continue expanding our connection with campus microfinance clubs. In the meantime, I am looking forward to learning about “Leveraging Partnerships to Reach Millions” at MFUSA and seeing how students can play a role in strengthening their communities.
Tags: accion usa, accionusa, lemonade stand, microfinance, microfinance usa, microfinance USA conference, student microfinance, us microfinance, Youth Microfinance Series