Connect, Collaborate, and Create… to be just a little bit productive while at University
Follow us on Twitter @MFIConnect
OUR MISSION
MFI Connect educates students of microfinance for thoughtful and productive lives and careers in the industry. The organization pursues this mission by providing microfinance education courses, innovative fundraising campaigns, in-field exposure programs, ground-breaking discussion, and access to competitive job opportunities.
WHAT WE DO...
As a global microfinance network composed of university clubs, MFIs, and dedicated activists, MFI Connect provides information about microfinance while linking students and MFIs in a mutually beneficial relationship that furthers the primary goal of microfinance poverty alleviation.
...FOR NEW COMERS
For individuals outside of a microfinance organization, this site functions as an information database through which anyone can learn about microfinance, interact with its key contributors, and bear witness to the millions of lives it changes daily. This information can be accessed though our “resources” and “media” tabs, which bring you to our video library, photo gallery, and a plethora of pertinent microfinance information. For those of you who are interested in starting a microfinance club, we provide examples of other initiatives, accompanied with an easy guide to getting started, and a list of suggested activities in collaboration with our campaigns. Once you're off the ground, we urge you to contribute your experiences and ideas to this site by joining the dialogue and helping others along the same path.
...FOR MICROFINANCE CLUBS
For established clubs, the site provides further inspiration and information, but most importantly, it acts as a communication facility to connect to other clubs and MFIs. Our topic-specific blogs; access to volunteer, intern, and job opportunities; campus fund-raising campaigns; and interaction with other microfinance clubs will empower your club to become a more effective microfinance agent that is more actively involved in this rapidly evolving industry.
...FOR MFIs
MFI Connect serves as a recruiting and fundraising platform that provides MFIs with precious human capital (i.e. the many passionate and intelligent students from our universities around the world) while simultaneously acting as an advertising venue.
•team@mficonnect.com any volunteer, intern, or job opportunities, and we will post them in relevant pages under the appropriate tabs.
• You should also send your fundraising needs to be posted. By advertising your needs on this site, you will fulfill your own capital requirements and provide valuable direction to many university clubs eager to contribute. We have no doubt that these clubs will meet your needs with creative, innovative solutions.
OUR STRANGE STORY OF CREATING THIS BABY THAT IS MFI CONNECT
In the fall of 2007, Kyle Megrue and Chris Temple traveled to South America, embarking on a gap year of adventure before heading to university. They took off with a mentality of free-spirited spontaneity, hoping to experience the real world before submitting to another arduous four years of scholastic rigor. What started as a whimsical journey, eventually opened their eyes to the extreme poverty that plagues much of the developing world, unparalleled in Western nations. Yet despite the illusion of poverty as a relentless cycle of misery, they were also struck by the latent potential for growth and hope within every struggling household.
Fate caught up with them in Guatemala and Costa Rica, where they met and worked alongside Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and founder of microfinance. With him they learned of the power of microfinance and the importance of empowering the poor with credit rather than pitying their squalor with ineffective charitable handouts. At this point, Chris and Kyle refocused their gap year and unknowingly dedicating the next few years of their lives by committing themselves to the pursuit of poverty alleviation through microfinance.
Meanwhile on a beach in Rhode Island, another inspired student, Haley Priebe, was personally moved as she read Banker to the Poor and discovered that microfinance was a realistic solution to world poverty. In the ensuing sequence of serendipitous events, Haley was connected to Chris and Kyle, after Kyle’s curious mother introduced herself to Haley’s mom at a book fair, having miraculously overheard a conversation about Haley’s newfound obsession with microfinance. The two mothers quickly decided that their children had to meet and discuss their passions. That winter over Christmas break, the idea of this student network was conceived.
Now, after a several months working Grameen America, a trip to Bangladesh, hundreds of conference calls, numerous microfinance conferences, and a lot of serious technical difficulty, we want you to become part of our story, and part of microfinance history.
A few months ago, our partnership with Christian Becker and Brian Weinberg, enabled us to actually see our ideas through to fruition and bring the facility to you. Our technical difficulties and web design issues were solved by Christian Becker from the great state of Colorado, who graduated from Messiah College with a dedicated focus in Microfinance. During his time there he established the Microeconomic Development Club. Then while traveling to Zambia to work on a savings and loan project, he realized the gaping void that prohibited the necessary collaboration between MFIs and students organizations. With such experience, he was moved to develop the framework of MFIconnect, which Chris, Haley, and Kyle would later find to be an ideal platform, from which they could pursue their collective vision.
Brian Weinberg came into project through a coincidental encounter at the Clinton Global Initiative, where our team embarked on a prosperous relationship that has brought us to collaborate with one of Brian’s many conscious endeavors- Turn Phones into Loans. His dedication to Turn Phones into Loans, plus his undying commitment to social business has made him a vital partner and advisor as we broaden our contacts, recruit membership, and expand the capacity of our network.
Zach Ingrasci and Alex (The Minister) Simon joined our ranks for the Regional Microcredit Summit in Colombia. Hailing from Washington state, Zach has brought fresh-eyes and an academic understanding of microfinance to our work. Alex on the other hand has brought a new wave of dedication, knowledge, and contacts crucial to the progress of this organization. Alex is a student at George Washington University and is actively involved in almost every microfinance initiative known to man.
MFI Connect was able to organize and sponsor 49 students to attend the 2010 Regional Microcredit Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. It was at this conference that we had the pleasure of adding Sam Mitchell, Paloma Pineda, Ben Thomas, and Maddie Brandenburger to our ranks. The team is now virtually unstoppable given our wealth of experience, contacts, and understanding of microfinance! :)
This said, join MFI Connect and engage with your peers in eradicating extreme poverty.
Connect, Collaborate, and Create… to make poverty a relic of past generations that fills museums and not townships.
NOTE
We are very open to your questions, comments, or concerns as we continue to develop the site. Please don't hesitate to send any feedback to team@mficonnect.com. See "contact us" at the bottom of every page.
