Thursday, May 6, 2010

New Projects for 2010

In our last post, we mentioned some problems with microfinance today. While difficult issues have arise in the industry, it's still one of the keys to poverty alleviation. In fact, GIVE is already working with MFIs and NGOs in Southeast Asia to combat some of the downsides of the microfinance industry so it can become even more effective at helping the poor and building stronger, more stable communities in the region.

Last month, we opened our first entrepreneurship center in Manila. In partnership with a local NGO, Inner City Development Cooperative (ICDC), we plan to offer education via the Barefoot MBA, an entrepreneurship course aimed at helping the poor start sustainable businesses, including other business training modules that are being developed. Additionally, we hope to integrate other business support services for the local community which we will announce when they become available.

We're working to develop a childcare co-op through the entrepreneurship center, too. Many women cannot utilize their microfinance loans to their utmost capacity because they have children at home and no one else to care for them. This co-op will help meet these childcare needs so the women have the time and energy to start businesses that will not only sustain their families, but also help their local communities.

Successful businesses are run by resilient business owners. Alongside these business-oriented opportunities, we're also pioneering a group-support program to help the recipients of microfinance loans combat learned helplessness. While learning business skills will give these microentrepreneurs the chance to improve their businesses by improving their minds, these group sessions will help them overcome culturally ingrained ideas that defeat them before they even get started.

We have three major MFIs in Cambodia on board with starting a similar entrepreneurship center there. We hope to have the details of this ironed out later this year so we can begin working with those entrepreneurs as soon as possible. This is a great opportunity for us to not only aid entrepreneurs, but to develop scales and metrics that will help us measure GIVE's success and grow an in-house set of tools aimed at giving microentrepreneurs the very best resources for success.

These are only the first of many ventures GIVE has in the works to support MFIs and the microentrepreneurs who receive their loans. Getting money into these communities is an important step, and GIVE plans to help take these loans even further by making them a more effective tool to combat poverty.