Equilibrium | SPU 2012 from Mandie Sodoma on Vimeo.

May 10th, 6-9 pm, Martin Square, Seattle, WA

To learn more about the work of Upaya and its LiftUP Project, click on the image to watch their explanatory video.

SeaMo and other members of the Seattle microfinance community will be hosting the premier of Bonsai People, a documentary about Muhammad Yunus’ drive to build social businesses as the next wave of development.

The screening will be on April 18th at UW’s Kane Hall at 7pm with a reception preceding it at 5pm.

UPDATE: The invitation for the Screening and Pre-Screening Reception is now up at Eventbrite: http://bonsaipeopleseattle-eorg.eventbrite.com/

For more information, see the full description.

Date: 12/08/11, Thursday
Location: Fremont Brewing Company, 3409 Woodland Park Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103
Time: 5pm to 8pm

The conference was organized by LDI Director and Professorial Research Fellow Yong-Shik Lee, Ph.D, an expert in international trade and a visiting professor at Seattle University School of Law. The program will bring 17 leading law and economic development experts from seven countries and the U.S. State Department to discuss development finance.

In particular, the conference will focus on “microtrade,” which is defined to include international trade of small quantities of goods produced locally and on a small scale. As Professor Lee explains in his scholarly article, “Theoretical Basis and Regulatory Framework for Microtrade: Combining Volunteerism with International Trade towards Poverty Elimination,” microtrade may offer an alternative means of providing persons in least-developed countries with opportunities for economic advancement. Unlike large-scale export programs that are initiated at the macro-level, microtrade does not necessarily depend upon preexisting infrastructure. That said, there are certain logistical obstacles that must be addressed on a case-by-case basis. As development practitioners and academics confront these obstacles and brainstorm potential solutions, the resulting innovations may pave the way not only for successful microtrade, but also for macro-level improvements. The conference will provide a unique opportunity to explore these and related cutting edge questions in development finance.

A conference registration fee of $30 includes access to the full day conference, refreshments, and lunch. While the program is free for faculty and students of any educational institution, registration is required for all attendees. Please visit the registration page for more information.

In 2010, 15 percent of the poor market women served by Fonkoze left our program because of expenses related to health issues,” said Carine Roenen, Director of Fonkoze. “For years our clients have asked us to provide them with health services. Working with Global Partnerships and Linked Foundation will allow us to start responding to that request and reduce our clients’ vulnerability to disease and health-related economic shocks. It’s like a dream come true.

The initiative marks Global Partnerships first project in Haiti and brings to nine the total number of Latin American and Caribbean countries in which the organization is working.

About Global Partnerships: Founded in 1994, Global Partnerships (GP) is a nonprofit social investor based in Seattle, Washington, and Managua, Nicaragua, whose mission is to expand opportunity for people living in poverty. GP invests in and develops sustainable solutions to help impoverished people in Latin America earn a living and improve their lives, including microcredit, basic health care, business education, technical assistance and access to markets for farmers, and green technology. See also www.globalpartnerships.org.

About Fonkoze: Fondasyon Kole Zépol (Fonkoze) is Haiti’s largest microfinance institution with more than 55,000 borrowers, most of whom live and work in the countryside of Haiti, and more than 255,000 savers. It operates out of 46 branches across Haiti and in every province of the country, including many towns and villages where no other banks operate. Fonkoze’s unwavering commitment to serving Haiti’s poor has driven the institution to develop its Staircase out of Poverty approach—a series of complementary programs and products designed to meet clients wherever they are and accompany them on their journey out of poverty.  See also www.fonkoze.org.

About Linked Foundation: Linked Foundation is a private foundation that alleviates poverty by promoting and investing in solutions that improve the health and economic self-reliance of women in Latin America. See also www.linkedfoundation.org.

It is generally assumed that such high interest rates are a necessary cost of making small loans in isolated and impoverished areas. Microlending websites that administer “crowd-funded” loans through local intermediaries assume that the borrowers not only lack the necessary computer skills to communicate with lenders themselves, but also that they cannot be trusted to repay loans without constant visits by loan officers.

Kurnia believed these assumptions were outdated, and to test her theory she founded Zidisha.org, a peer-to-peer microlending platform that turns the traditional approach to microfinance lending on its head. First, there are no intermediaries: instead, the entrepreneurs themselves post loan applications and communicate directly with lenders via facebook-style profile pages. Zidisha does not outsource loan disbursements and repayment collection to local organizations either, but rather uses grassroots technology like mobile banking to conduct financial transactions with borrowers directly. The result? Radical transparency, and lower cost to borrowers than has ever before been possible in the developing world – even though Zidisha.org lenders earn interest as well.

Zidisha is tapping into the growing population of computer-literate, but still economically disadvantaged, small business owners and explosive growth of internet access that have transformed developing countries in recent years. Borrowers log in to Zidisha.org to share business updates with lenders from cheap internet cafés, old laptops donated to local schools, and solar-powered smartphones shared by entire villages.

Today, loans funded through Zidisha.org surpassed the $100,000 mark. Since making their first microloans – to three nomadic herders in Kenya’s remote Masai Mara – in October 2009, Zidisha lenders from around the world have financed 181 small business ventures in Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Kenya and Senegal. Zidisha’s average lender interest rate is 2.96%, and the repayment rate to date is 99.5%.

Zidisha believes in transparency. So ask questions, meet our remarkable entrepreneurs, and become part of the conversation.

Join them at www.zidisha.org or @zidishainc

1 Minute Video: Zidisha Inc.