We love this fantastic summary of Jonathan Lewis’ opening remarks at MFUSA 2011 courtesy of the official MicroPlace blog. For those who were there, you may remember Jonathan’s rousing statement that microfinance is most certainly a movement, rather than an industry–this post highlights why being a movement is such a powerful thing.
Enjoy!
Check out this #MFUSA2011 reaction post from Barbara Kiviat, a member of the U.S. Financial Diaries research team & conference attendee:
“A Call for Better Language” from the Financial Access Initiative blog.
By Tom Murphy, Microfinance USA attendee
This past fall, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to attend the Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference in New York City. There, the top researchers and practitioners gathered to discuss some of the latest findings in the field of microfinance with the intention that the two groups would be able to connect. Abhijit Banerjee presented an idea on the gap between small and large businesses. He was struck by the fact that few small businesses were able to make the leap to larger growth. Siezing on the idea of the ‘missing middle’ I reflected on the conference writing:
There were some who were encouraged by the dialog taking place in New York, but a ‘missing middle’ remains between the practitioners and researchers. RCTs are too slow, but they are by far the best way at doing the research necessary to understanding what works in development in aid. What I see missing in the middle is that there needs to be an understanding that they can provide information to each other that can lead to the innovations which can significantly shift the trajectory of poverty. There is a need for both, each knows that, but they need to learn to play nice.
The Microfinance USA Conference in two weeks aims to accomplish the same end by bringing together researchers and practitioners to encourage more conversation between the two. What I will be looking for is if the gap between the two has grown smaller since September.
With books like More than Good Intentions and Poor Economics coupled with the recent happenings in AP and the ousting of Yunus, I feel safe in saying that the microfinance landscape has changed rather significantly in a matter of months.
My focal post will be on the “Savings: The Future of Microfinance” session with Robert A. Annibale, Citi Microfinance and Community Development; Dean Karlan, Yale University; Lisa Mensah, The Aspen Institute, Initiative on Financial Security; and Stephen Rasmussen, World Bank. Savings looks to be one of the most promising opportunities in the field of microfinance but gets far less attention being that it is not as sexy as loans that can be used to grow a business or ensure a child’s education. What has been lost is that savings, with the right incentives, can have an even greater impact.
Throughout the conference I will be live tweeting to share information and add quick commentary. In addition, I will put up some rapid posts based on my notes and more thoughtful posts which will reflect on specific sessions and the overall event.
By Delaine Zody, conference attendee
After 21 years of teaching and about 120 field trips with my students, I know that a field trip should be educational, fun, and safe. Today, at the Microfinance USA 2010 conference, the lunchtime microentrepreneur tour was just that.
Happy Dayleg of Opportunity Fund, along with Helen Branham and Janice Lee of Urban Solutions were our guides for this bus trip across the San Francisco streets to the historical Fillmore Jazz District.
Before an influx of redevelopment funds in the 1990s, the Fillmore District was an underserved neighborhood in San Francisco. Chance, an employee at Gussie’s Chicken & Waffles, our first stop, talked about growing up in the city and hearing stories from his dad, a beat cop, about how great the area used to be. Chance, however would not believe it because it was too scary when he was growing up. It has since been revitalized, and Chance is proud to be helping change the impression of the neighborhood. But the owner of Sheba Lounge, our second stop, Netsanet Alemayehu, says there are still people who are afraid to come past Geary Boulevard. More positive publicity is needed to make the Fillmore District a destination spot.
Michele Wilson opened Gussie’s Chicken & Waffles using the resources from Urban Solutions to get her southern-inspired restaurant open on Eddy Street. When our tour bus arrived just after noon, lunch was on the table. I chatted with customer Jeannine Elzey who said she and her husband enjoy the food at Gussie’s on a regular basis. Although the waffle was gone from her husband’s plate, Jeannine still had her lunch of fried chicken, sweet potatoes, collard greens and cornbread. At another table I got to see a platter of fried catfish.
Lunch time microentrepreneur tour participants enjoyed lunch at Gussie's Chicken and Waffles
Leaving Gussie’s we walked around the corner to Fillmore Street and found Sheba Lounge. This is a piano bar and Ethiopian restaurant that is open late at night and a great spot for all the restaurant workers to come for dinner and socializing when they finish their long shifts. Urban Solutions, along with the Northeast Community Federal Credit Union, helped to get this neighborhood spot transformed from an empty shell to the lovely space it is today. Netsanet Alemayehu and her sister, Israel, provide a relaxed atmosphere where music, food, and drinks are served up nightly.
Microfinance helped these two businesses get off the ground and open their doors to providing good food and a place to relax. But moreover, they’re helping to turn the Fillmore District into a more vibrant community.
By Matt Royles, conference attendee
Although this is just the second annual Microfinance USA conference, I was hardly surprised to learn that over 400 individuals will be attending the event. Anyone in the industry with a Google Alerts account can tell you that the past several years have brought unprecedented attention to the field. Every week seems to bring another mainstream media article, a new program, or a new investment in a U.S. microfinance institution. Surely the national dialogue about decreasing access to traditional business credit has spurred the growing interest in microfinance.
To me, some of the most interesting developments have involved new sources of capital for the field.
Earlier this month, Citi announced a $200 million fund to spur small business lending among CDFI loan funds. Back in December, Citi Microfinance announced that it has generated $6 million in loans through its 2008 agreement to purchase up to $30 million in microloans from ACCION Texas. Last year, Kiva.org began raising funds for microloans disbursed by Opportunity Fund and ACCION USA. The list goes on.
Sessions about funding and capitalization abound at this year’s conference. That’s not surprising, given the challenge among U.S. microfinance institutions raising capital. Breakout sessions like “Scaling Global Microfinance: Funder Perspectives;” “Where Does all that Loan Capital Come from, Anyway?;” and “Funding U.S. Microenterprise: Why Now?” top my list. What motivates donors and investors to support microfinance? How do they calculate the return on their investment? How do they source new ‘deals’? These are a few of the questions that I hope to answer by meeting the stakeholders that will star in the Google Alerts of tomorrow.
Matt Royles is Associate Director for Resource Development at ACCION USA, and has worked in the CDFI field for six years. In addition to the Microfinance USA 2010 blog, he also contributes to Main Street Microfinance, ACCION USA’s blog.
By Rob Packer, Conference Attendee
When most people first hear about microfinance, it is often about borrowers living in rural areas of the developing world with little access to other sources of credit. While it seems obvious that the poorest—the people microfinance is supposed to help in the popular imagination—of a developing country, such as Mexico or India, must be significantly poorer than someone living in poverty in the USA, the developed world does not have a monopoly on wealth, just like the developing world does not have a monopoly on poverty (e.g. the world’s richest man according to Forbes is Mexican). However, when you remove the developing-country concept, it seems that microfinance becomes problematic for some.
Kiva began partnering with US microfinance institutions in June 2009 and while we are extremely excited by the possibilities of expansion into Kiva’s home nation, we understand that the concept of US-based microfinance lending can be controversial. When Kiva first entered the US market, there were a number of lenders on the site upset by the decision: to some it appeared sure to attract funds away from the developing world and to be a betrayal of Kiva’s commitment to the developing world. One year on, I do not believe we have seen any discernable slow-down in lending to non-US borrowers and increase to borrowers in the US; nor has Kiva seen a reduction in its developing country exposure: both continue to grow.
I have recently started at Kiva as the Portfolio Manager for the Americas, a role which covers “traditional” microfinance markets such as Nicaragua or Peru but also includes the United States. However, like the average Joe who knows about microfinance in the developing-world context, but less so in terms of the US, my previous experience of microfinance has been in Kyrgyzstan and Colombia, two developing countries where I was placed with MFIs as part of Kiva’s Fellows Program. My experience in these two countries, and the experiences of my peers in other countries around the world have taught me that while microfinance between no two MFIs is identical, the challenges faced within the same country may be similar. I’m looking forward to gaining a deeper understanding of the realities of microfinance in the US and seeing the differences (and similarities) between how it works between the US and various other countries of the region.
Rob Packer is Portfolio Manager for the Americas at Kiva, working worldwide to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. He has recently completed a Fellowship with Kiva which saw him based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and Barranquilla, Colombia.
By Victoria McBride, conference attendee
I am so thrilled that this conference is taking place in my hometown, San Francisco. I can already imagine that this event will be an invaluable learning experience for all attendees.
While on a personal level, I am excited that the conference is taking place in my hometown, I am also glad that a conference such as this one is happening here because New York and Washington D.C. have generally been the American centers of the international development world. San Francisco is often overlooked as an important international development hub, when in fact, our city is filled with innovative non-profits, passionate entrepreneurs and dedicated activists.
Having worked recently with The Samburu Project and currently with Under the Baobab Tree, two development non-profit organizations, I am excited to explore further in depth the realm of microfinance, and to learn about how people and organizations like the ones I have worked with can use this tool to expand their scope of work in developing countries around the world. While microfinance and micro-loans are clearly not a panacea for world poverty, the expansion of this practice in recent years has been interesting to watch as more and more organizations are using microlending as an important tool to help their projects and organizations grow, as well as to help many people around the world.
The Kiva Lender-Borrower Meetup particularly interests me. Over the course of my studies at UCLA and beyond, Kiva has arisen time and time again as a micro-finance case study, and I am interested to learn more about the inner workings of Kiva’s microfinance program, and to interface and discuss with people who have had hands on experience with their program.
Additionally, I anticipate that the discussions and information shared at the Leveraging Partnerships to Reach Millions session will be invaluable information to walk away with. I am eager to learn about the advancement of public-private partnerships and about how non-profits as well as government agencies have been using such partnerships to expand and enhance their projects.
I am truly looking forward to this conference and await impatiently the valuable learning experience that will be presented to me there.
Victoria McBride currently works with San Francisco based non-profit, Under the Baobab Tree, an organization committed to education and community development in Malawi. She is also and recent UCLA graduate with a degree in International Development Studies.
By Patricia Wada
This probably marks me as a newbie, but my interest in microfinance began when I read Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus. I was working at the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo, Japan, and was interested in how microfinance could be a piece of the international development puzzle. Fast forward a few years and you find me now, a microfinance enthusiast at the tail end of an eight-month internship at Kiva.
Kiva is a website that lets you make micro-loans of as little as $25 to low-income borrowers around the world. A quick browse through the Kiva lending page offers a glimpse into the lives of these borrowers.
In Peru, Edgar is borrowing to buy seeds for his agriculture business. In Senegal, Tacko is borrowing for her mobile phone business. And right here in the United States, Ana is borrowing to improve her childcare business. It is these individual stories that originally attracted me to Kiva, and they continue to fuel my enthusiasm for microfinance.
One of the sessions I’m most looking forward to is “The Rise of P2P Lending.” Peer-to-peer lending sites like Kiva have opened up a new funding channel for microfinance. At the same time, they provide something traditional funding sources don’t: an educational opportunity for individuals who lend on the site.
I’m also excited to hear from individual micro-loan borrowers. I’ve spent a lot of time working with over 400 volunteers who edit and translate their profiles for Kiva, so I can’t wait to meet some Kiva borrowers at the “Kiva Lender-Borrower Meet-Up.”
The “Opening Session: Conversation with Maria Shriver” is likely to be a highlight for me because of the chance to hear Maria Shriver speak, along with Kiva President Premal Shah. Thursday night’s “Taste of Microentrepreneurship” event will combine two things I’m passionate about microfinance and food, as microentrepreneurs will be representing Bay Area kitchens in a “food festival”!
On the other end of the spectrum, the conference offers sessions on important big-picture questions. I’m particularly interested in “What is a Fair Price to Pay for Good Credit?” and “Is Savings Even More Important than Credit?” These have been hot topics in the Kiva office and in the microfinance world, and I’m looking forward to hearing the experts weigh in.
The conference promises a great mix of sessions for seasoned microfinance professionals and relative newbies alike. It’s not too late to register for individual sessions or for the whole conference. I hope to see you there!
Patricia Wada has just completed an eight-month internship in Kiva’s Review and Translation Team. She previously worked in the publications department of the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo, Japan. A believer in the importance of microfinance for poverty alleviation, Patricia is continually inspired by the stories of microfinance clients all over the world.
By Dylan Higgins
As the Microfinance USA conference draws nearer and with an abundance of tantalizing sessions, I thought it may be helpful to map out an attendance strategy. Here are my Day 1 and Day 2 recommendations.
Day 1:
Day 2:
I look forward to meeting many of you next week! Feel free to contact me on twitter: @savetogether
Dylan Higgins is the Founder and CEO of SaveTogether.org and the Vice-Chair of SeaMo. SaveTogether operates a website that offers you an opportunity to participate in savings-focused microfinance and SeaMo is an organization dedicated to connecting the microfinance community through events, conferences, and an online platform.
