Harnessing Student Potential In Microfinance
-
Paloma
- Female
- Bellevue, WA
- United States
- Share
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Blog Posts
- Discussions (2)
- Events
- Groups (2)
Paloma's Page
Gifts Received
Paloma has not received any gifts yet
Profile Information
- What is the name of your company, organization, or school?
- Yale University
- What is your job function?
- Student
- Why are you here?
- I am a sophomore at Yale who is passionate about microfinance and has had considerable work experience within the field. As well as working with an ASCA in a rural village in the Dominican Republic and conducting client surveys for an MFI in Buenos Aires, I currently am the Director of Client Services for the first and largest domestic student-run microfinance organization in the country, The Elmseed Enterprise Fund (www.elmseed.org). I am here because I wish to keep informed about the latest developments in the field, as well as to network with others who are committed to developing microfinance as a sustainable tool to combat poverty.
- What are you currently working on?
- I currently direct Client Services for The Elmseed Enterprise Fund (the oldest and largest student-run microfinance organization in the nation, www.elmseed.org), which provides small loans ($2000 - $4500) as well as individualized consulting services and business training courses to entrepreneurs in the New Haven area. We are currently serving 18 clients, with businesses ranging from an after-school karate center to landscaping services to a printing business, and have given out a total of $56,000 in loans over our 9-year history. We are currently looking into helping other college students at universities around the country to replicate our model.
I am also headed to Ghana this summer to work for Innovations for Poverty Action under Dean Karlan (www.ipa.org). There, I will initiate a study analyzing money-lending practices in diverse areas of the country and how they have been impacted by the introduction of micro-finance. I will also assist with general project implementation of studies seeking to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of various methods of reducing poverty, mainly in the sphere of finance and economic development.
I am also currently helping to plan "Development Month at Yale" this February, which is hosting many speakers and events that are related to micro-finance. Among those that I am personally organizing will be a presentation by the founders of Dvelo (www.dvelo.org), who have just launched a new online microlending platform.
Finally, I am currently one of two college interns for a new organization called See Your Impact (www.seeyourimpact.org), which is seeking to do in the realm of micro-charity what KIVA and other online lenders have done in the sphere of microfinance: create an online platform where people can give small amounts with maximum transparency and no percentage earmarked for overhead costs. I am currently directing an outreach and awareness program on campus.
Groups
-
Campus Kiva
10 members
-
Rice University OWL Micr…
4 members
-
Women's Global Empowerme…
3 members
© 2010 Created by Chris Becker.
Comment Wall (1 comment)
You need to be a member of MFI Connect to add comments!
Join MFI Connect
We are students from Wellesley and Wharton. With the support of:
• Prominent microfinance clubs (MFCs) such as UPenn MFC, Columbia University, Cornell University...
• Known partner MFIs: Grameen America, PlaNet Finance, Green Microfinance, and LendforPeace
• Youth social entrepreneurship sponsor: Ashoka Youth Venture is sponsoring the campaign
• Top tech team: Oracle is assisting us on the website/technology side
We are launching PoverUP!
PoverUP is a not-for-profit microfinance organization created by students for students to help alleviate poverty by providing loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs), MFI projects, and micro-entrepreneurs on our action platform.
Our mission is to educate students about global poverty and microfinance and ignite a student grassroots movement with PoverUP Your World – the First Global Student Microfinance Day - to fight poverty worldwide through microfinance.
We are planning the PoverUP Your World Campaign Premiere at select Universities November 17th 2010 before opening up the event to the broader student community April 13th 2011.
We are looking for students who are interested in joining our team or students who are involved in their school's Microfinance Club and would like to partner with us.
Please let me know if you and/or your school's MFC are interested. We look forward to discussing PoverUp with you and the members of your school's MFC.
Please let me know a couple dates and times when we can speak.
Best,
Cassie
cmcgurk@poverup.org