Microfinance Alliance
Past Events
April 16, 2008: Student Microfinance Experience Panel
Microfinane Alliance members shared their experiences with development and microfinance in a moderated panel format. The discussion was great and the happy hour at Acadia Cafe was fun as well. Special thanks to the experts in attendance: Helzi Noponen, visiting Associate Professor at the Humphrey Institute, and Robert Scarlett of ACCION.
March 7-8, 2008: Nobel Peace Prize Forum Bus Trip
Microfinance Alliance took a bus of students to the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. We exhibited at the International Peace Fair and presented 2 concurrent seminars, Assessing Impact: Challenges and Practice and Local Students Experience Microfinance). We also had a chance to hear the amazing speakers:
- Dr. Muhammad Yunus : Winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize
- Greg Mortenson : Founder of the Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace. He also established over 60 elementary schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan
- Dr. Jeffery Sachs (via video conference): Director of the Earth Institute and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary Genera Ban Ki-moon. He is also the co-founder of the Millennium Promise Alliance, which is dedicated to ending global poverty.
This event was sponsored by Best Buy Corporation and the University of Minnesota Center for Integrative Leadership .
November 19, 2007: Grameen Foundation Speaker
Vivana Salina-Lanao, Program Officer at the Grameen Foundation in Washington D.C., described the work they are doing to support microfinance institutions. Click here and scroll down for Viviana's bio.
October 26, 2007: Chingwell Motumbu and the First Step Initiative in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Chingwell Motumbu discussed how and why she founded a microfinance institution, First Step Initiative , in her home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
April 20, 2007: Microfinance Panel
Robert Scarlett, member of ACCION International President's Council, and Mike Temali, Executive Director of the Neighborhood Development Center discussed the Evolution of International and Domestic Microfinance/Micro-lending and future trends.
Speaker Biographies
Robert Scarlett has spent more than 40 years working in the field and volunteering, for Acción International, a private self-help program that made the first micro-loan, in Recife, Brazil, in 1973.
Acción International emerged to become a leader in the field of micro-lending in Latin American, the U.S. and then Africa and Asia; and, through its - now worldwide - network of affiliates and partners, serves 2.4 million tiny micro-enterprises and has an active micro-loan portfolio of US$ 2 billion. Click here for Robert Scarlett's full biography
Mihailo Temali is the founder and President of Western Initiatives for Neighborhood Development (WIND), and Executive Director of the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC), both in St. Paul and Minneapolis. WIND provides assistance on organizational capacity building, small business lending, business training, commercial corridor revitalization and real estate development. NDC has combined the approaches of the micro-enterprise and CDC industries in a three-step program of inner-city entrepreneur training, lending and on-going support, along with a real estate development initiative. In partnership with 20 neighborhood and ethnic-based community groups, NDC has provided 16 weeks of business plan training to over 2,100 low/moderate income inner-city entrepreneurs since it was founded by WIND in 1993. Over 300 of these trainees are currently operating their business in their own neighborhood, from well-known ethnic restaurants to service businesses. Over 75% of these business owners are persons of color.
Click here for Mihailo Temali's full biography
February 26, 2007: Q&A Session with Dominic Howes, producer of the Microfinance documentary Awakening: Empowering Women through Microloans.
Dominic Howes hosted an open discussion about his film, Awakening , and what he learned through the process of making it.
February 7, 2007: Microfinance Alliance Kick-off Event
The Microfinance Alliance hosted a screening of the critically acclaimed Microfinance documentary, Awakening by Dominic Howes & Joel Weber. Following the film we listened to insights from Jim Klobuchar and Susan Cornell Wilkes, co-authors of The Miracles of Barefoot Capitalism .