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
A Mainstreet Microfinance Mission
On one of my very first missions as a Kiva Fellow, I wandered through a maze of food cart vendors searching for a borrower. A newbie to the profession, I thought his address would be enough to locate him to take a the photo needed for his profile. As anyone who has ever tried to find anything in a developing country, region, or neighborhood will tell you, I needed much more than just an address. I was surrounded by food carts in all directions, slinging everything from fruit and pretzels to dumplings and falafel. Where was I? Not in India, or Kenya, or Guatemala. No, I was in downtown Manhattan.
As a Kiva Fellow for ACCION USA, I learned that New York borrowers were more similar to international borrowers than not. If 75% of ACCION USA’s borrowers are immigrants, it’s even possible that some of them could have been microloan borrowers in their home country before applying at ACCION USA!
Perhaps one of the most revolutionary aspects of ACCION USA’s jump into the person-to-person lending market is just that: the divide between Kiva lenders and borrowers has grown much smaller. As one Kiva/ACCION USA lender recently conveyed to me, her son was inspired by Ray’s business in Atlanta. Her son receives his allowance in Kiva cash, and he is an avid lender. Seeing a successful small business being built closer to home has inspired him, and has made the other business he sees around the world that much more real and respected.
My last attempt to contact the elusive food cart borrower landed me at a hot dog cart smack dab in the spot where my guy had been 10 minutes prior. I decided to strike up conversation with his replacement.
“So where are you from?” I asked.
“Bangladesh,” he said- sounded like music to my ears. I bought the quintessential NYC treat from him, as we chatted about Muhammad Yunus and the American dream. We both concluded that New York City is an incredible and magical city. I couldn’t have asked for a better end to my Kiva mission – to learn that microentrepreneurs here in the U.S. are as inspiring and resourceful as those in the developing world.
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Erica Dorn served as Kiva’s first domestic Fellow, she now coordinates the Kiva program at ACCION USA. Learn more about Erica’s U.S. microlending adventures at Vimeo.
Tags: accion, accion usa, erica dorn, kiva, kiva.org, microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, us microfinance, Yunus