Marshall Microfinance Association has invited members of LAMN to join their speaker panel. There are only 30 positions open, please email at uscmicrofinance@gmail.com (first come first serve). There are some exciting and big name speakers so please join them! The event will cost $20 for non USC students

Event Schedule:

When: Wednesday November 11th 2009

Where: Founder’s Room, Galen Center, USC

Time:                                     Session:                                           Location:

——————————————————————————————————

9:30- 10:00                                Registration                                    Founder’s Room

10:00 – 10:30                                      Opening Remarks                            Founder’s Room

10:30 – 11:30                         Speakers Panel                                 Founder’s Room

11:30 – 12:00                                    Q&A Session                                     Founder’s Room

———–  Breakout ————-

12:00 – 1:00                            Networking/Recruitment                 Founder’s Room

Event Details:

10:00 – 10:30

Opening Remarks

Sam Daley- Harris, Founder, Microcredit Summit Campaign

10:30 – 11:30

Speakers Panel

Topics:

• Sustainability: How can a small microfinance institution sustain themselves? Should the borrowers become owners of the organization similar to the Grameen model?  (10-15 minutes)

Speaker: Mr. Sanjay Sinha ( CFO, Microcredit Enterprises)

• Scale and Commercialization: Can MFIs simply replicate themselves? What type of business model should they use when they begin another branch in another location (i.e. adaptation)? What are the challenges of increased competition?  (10-15 minutes)

Speaker: Mr. Peter Thorrington (Chairman of the Board, Opportunity International)

• Micro-entrepreneurship: What is the impact of a small loan? Do these micro-entrepreneurships require business training? Should MFIs incorporate training into their program before they make a loan?  (10-15 minutes)

Speaker: Kathleen Stack (Vice President, Freedom from Hunger)

• Technology and Microfinance: How can technology help microfinance grow?  (10-15 minutes)

This article is referred to me by my Toasmaster member, Meyer! It’s posted on the magazine “Corporate Counsel”

Pro Bono Program Assists Microfinance Projects Around the World

Sherry Karabin

Corporate Counsel

July 28, 2009

//

CAPITAL GAINS

While working at one of the biggest financial institutions in the world, Kimberly Summe was thinking small. Last year, as a lawyer at Lehman Brothers Inc., Summe developed an idea for a pro bono program that would assist microfinance projects around the globe. These organizations provide small loans, often under $100, to entrepreneurs in developing nations. Even as Lehman collapsed last fall, Summe managed to launch Paladin Connect, which now provides free legal help to more than a dozen microfinance groups operating from Bangladesh to Bosnia.

Microfinance organizations focus on individuals or groups — especially women — who want to start a business, but can’t get a loan from a bank because they have no credit history or few assets. “If you don’t have access to credit, you have to survive paycheck to paycheck, and it’s much harder to climb out of poverty,” said Summe. “Microfinance provides a solution to this problem by offering retail banking services to the poor.”

Summe set up Paladin Connect with the help of law firms that she got to know while serving as general counsel of the New York-based International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc. from 2001 to 2007. “I worked with counsel in over 80 countries on a variety of matters,” she said. “I thought, I’ve got this network of talented people who do some of the most complicated commercial work from a legal perspective, and there are microfinance institutions in need of legal help. So why not set up a matchmaking service?”

It wasn’t until she joined Lehman as a managing director, however, that Summe was able to put Paladin Connect together. She faced a unique challenge when Lehman filed for bankruptcy last September and was acquired by Barclays Capital Inc. “There was a lot of uncertainty as to how things would work out after Lehman’s insolvency,” Summe said. “I figured I could engage in nervous chitchat at the water cooler, or shut my door and focus on this project.”

Summe chose the latter, and got Paladin Connect running by December. (She stayed on with Barclays until March, when she became general counsel of Partner Fund Management L.P., a San Francisco-based asset manager.) Summe continues to operate the nonprofit by herself.

Although microfinance institutions make much smaller loans than commercial and investment banks, Summe said they have many of the same legal needs. The difference is that they don’t have the money to hire top lawyers. Summe explained, “I wanted to amplify the number of people being reached by these institutions by connecting them to legal services.”

So far, more than a dozen law firms have signed on to work with Paladin Connect. No in-house lawyers are providing pro bono help through the project, though. “Law firm attorneys are uniquely suited for pro bono service because their billable hours approach contemplates a portion of their [nonbillable] time as being counted toward their required annual billings,” explained Summe, who hasn’t done any legal work for a microfinance institution herself. Plus, she adds, firms “offer resources and training” to encourage pro bono.

One of the institutions that Paladin Connect attorneys are helping is BRAC, the largest nongovernmental organization operating in the developing world. Two years ago, the group started an American affiliate, which recently enlisted lawyers from Weil Gotshal & Manges, a Paladin Connect participant. Weil attorneys are aiding BRAC USA’s fund-raising efforts by registering it with state authorities for charity solicitation.

“We’re a young organization in the United States,” said Alyssa Herman, vice president at BRAC USA. “It’s very valuable to have top-level legal support as we grow to help extend our reach. If we had to use our own funds, it would take away from program money.”

Mercy Corps has also drawn on help from Paladin Connect, much to the relief of general counsel Mary Chaffin. “I can’t do it all,” she said. A Portland, Ore.-based humanitarian relief and development agency, Mercy Corps has founded several microfinance institutions around the world. It’s currently transforming its affiliate in Bosnia-Herzegovina from a not-for-profit into a for-profit organization with help from London’s Allen & Overy, another Paladin Connect participant.

“It’s very interesting work because it’s a real mixture,” said Allen & Overy partner Christopher Bernard, who organized the firm’s microfinance working group. Bernard adds, “It’s a challenge trying to achieve some of the things Mercy Corps wants to do-such as giving incentives to employees of microfinance institutions in different jurisdictions by issuing them stock-while making sure the mission remains focused on microfinance.”

The emphasis in microfinance on women borrowers appeals to Summe because of her family’s history. While she had a middle-class upbringing in Oklahoma, both her mother and grandmother grew up poor. Her mother’s finances took a turn for the better only after she joined the U.S. Army and became one of its first female drill sergeants.

“I thank my mom for instilling discipline in me,” Summe said. She adds that her mother never let her forget about those who were not as fortunate. “There were so many things that she did, from taking food to families on the wrong side of the tracks — not just during the holidays but every week — to fostering children,” recalled Summe. “If I worked in the summer to save for clothes, she would have me set aside a portion of my earnings so I could buy clothes for a family in need.”

Years later, when Summe was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell, she worked on her first pro bono project. She helped a Liberian man who had been tortured in his home country to win asylum in the United States for himself and his family. Her years at Sullivan also gave her time to learn about how microfinance institutions were helping poor people in similar situations to the one in which her grandmother and mother were raised.

“These organizations lend money to poor women. I thought about how incredibly powerful it was, because they were unleashing the creativity of these women to run their own businesses and help their families,” Summe explained. “I was reminded of my mom who wasn’t much different than these women in, say, Mexico. No bank cared about her because she was not a potential client.”

Summe hopes to expand Paladin Connect so that it can provide pro bono help to more organizations in the future. “I don’t think microfinance is going to move the entire world out of poverty,” she said. “But I do think it is a very strong contributing factor to the reduction of poverty.”

This article originally appeared in Corporate Counsel magazine, a Legal affiliate based in New York. •

Microfinance Focus’ liveblog to spur discussion during Microfina

Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:35 am (PDT)

Microfinance Focus has launched a liveblog (www.microfinancefocus.com/liveblog) on its website to provide news and discussions from the Microfinance India Summit to be held in New Delhi from Oct. 26 to 28, 2009.

Hi All,

Please join us on our next event on “Technology and Microfinance”

Lee Tenny is a Managing Consultant at IBM and he is leading a project for IBM’s innovation group in the development and deployment of new technologies for microfinance. Lee’s team has active projects in 5 regions around the world and have developed a global view of some of the key aspects, from both a technology / operations standpoint as well as a policy and macro-economic standpoint, that are critical for the successful scaling up of microfinance.

Lee Tenny is based in New York but will join us at USC to share his experience working in utilizing technology to help microfinance institutions in third world country. Lee will be giving a presentation on this topic.

When: Monday, 09/21/2009

Time: 8 – 9.30 pm

Where: USC Campus, Hoffman Hall at Room HOH2

701 Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA‎.

The best way to get into Hoffman Hall is to enter through Exposition Blvd Gate 2 and park at Parking structure 1. ($8 parking)

Please register for ticket at :
http://lamicrofinance.eventbrite.com/

$15 for regular ticket

Free for students with ID

Don’t forget to buy the ticket online before the event before it sells out!

The Microfinance Insights Annual Photo Contest 2009, “Global Shades of Development” has launched and we would like to invite entries from enthusiasts of microfinance, photography and social enterprise around the world.

The objective of the competition is to provide a fresh context to the subject of Microfinance – one that resonates with our increasingly diverse, global audience. Images transcend geographical and cultural boundaries, and we would like to use this medium to help our audience understand Microfinance better.

The winning photos will be displayed at Zenzi in Bandra, Mumbai, India, followed by a three-week long exhibition. The contest provides photographers with a great public forum in which to display their talent; gain valuable feedback from our judges; and, benefit from the satisfaction of having contributed to the social development sector.

The entries will be judged by a combination of readers’ votes and a panel that includes S. Paul, who has been called the Henry Cartier Bresson of India, and renowned social documentary photographer, Ken Light.

The contest, which is open to the general public, will be accepting entries until Sept. 31, 2009. Each participant is allowed to submit a maximum of 10 photographs and there is no participation fee. So, let your imagination flow and try to create a unique, unseen perspective for Microfinance Insights’ readers and judges!

For more information and submission of your entries, please visit our website www.microfinanceinsights.c

Hi All,

Please email Savinay Chandrasekhar at savinay@global.t-bird.edu if you are interested to go to Nepal to visit microfinance organization and recepient on August 23-29.

From: Savinay Chandrasekhar [mailto:savinay@global.t-bird.edu]

I apologize in advance for the unannounced email, but I found your names as chapter leads for Net Impact at Marshall, Stern, Stanford GSB, Haas, and Graziado. My name is Savinay Chandrasekhar and I’m an MBA student at Thunderbird School of Global Management (www.thunderbird.edu) with a strong interest in poverty reduction and global development.

As such, I was immensely excited to hear that Thunderbird was offering a field trip to Nepal for a course on microfinance taught by a Wharton professor, Dr F Gerard Adams. This trip will also involve meetings with global microfinance organizations (such as Grameen Bank), NGOs (such as Winrock), local banks (such as Bank of Kathmandu), government entities (such as Central Bank of Nepal), and of course, the actual end recipients of microfinance themselves, the villagers of Nepal.

The only problem is, as with many events such as this, we need to get more people interested in the trip for it to be financially viable. This should be easy if we promote this opportunity to as many people as possible with our shared interests, which is why I figured socially conscious students such as yourselves at other fantastic B-schools might be able to help get the word out.

The cost will be $1,500 for all ground expenses (food, accommodation, ground transportation), not inclusive of whatever airfare the participants incur to get to Kathmandu. In addition, visas can be purchased at Kathmandu airport itself for a small fee (it’s currently $30 for a single-entry visa, but there may be some minor service fees as well).

I’ve attached a document that has the basic information for the program. Please note that the dates are currently scheduled for 17-26 Aug on this document, but there’s a likelihood the trip will be delayed to 23-29 August. If any of your friends/classmates are interested, please have them let myself (savinay@global.thunderbird.edu) and Lisa Adams (lisa-adams@global.thunderbird.edu) know. In addition, if they have any questions, they can get in touch with Dr Jane Ives at ivesj@thunderbird.edu.

Thanks in advance for spreading the word!
Savinay

SCHEDULE:

Nepal.08.17.09.doc

Please note that events with speakers involved may not be able to be hosted in the location that people prefer in the poll above. This poll is more for networking events, where LAMN has greater flexibility to decide on the place. Thanks!

Microfinance institutions we want you!

Please email us at lamicrofinance@gmail.com with your bio and we will cast the spotlight on you in our “Featuring” series. Interested parties often come across LAMN’s blog when they search for microfinance opportunities (especially around Southern California), and we are constantly looking for new organizations to introduce to our readers.

Previously featured microfinance institutions include:

Pro Mujer
Whole Planet Foundation
MicroFinance ClearingHouse
Opportunity Fund
UNITIS

LAMN is organizing its events in September and would like your help in finding guest speakers. Topics are currently open so we welcome anyone with significant microfinance experience: industry professionals, professors, researchers, volunteers, etc.

If you or someone you know would be a good fit for the speaker role, please email Ivana at lamicrofinance@gmail.com with the relevant contact information. Thanks!