Authored by Jason Harris
A recent New York Times article points to the value that microfinance organizations can create by providing entrepreneurship training in addition to microloans. Not only is this training critical for the success of the individual entrepreneurs, who have often not run a business before, but it also improves the community that the microfinance institution creates.
Authored by Will Wray
We are transitioning towards a more agile, mobile capitalism. The institutions designed to foster economic growth have lagged behind the potential for value creation in individual innovation and decentralized growth. Microfinance is tapping into this potential, and in doing so, fulfilling the values of a liberal society.
Authored by Julie Siwicki
It’s no secret that small businesses are the lifeblood of the American economy. In fact, according to the Small Business Administration, in 2006 they made up 99.7% of employers nationwide. Minority-owned small businesses have grown incredibly over the past 10 years. The number of Hispanic business owners jumped 31.1% in the US between 1997 and 2002. In Rhode Island, they grew by a whopping 56.2%. But despite these impressive numbers, a subtle question remains on many minds: Can small businesses still thrive during a global financial downturn?
Authored by Lily Tran
As far as trendy words go, “Sustainable” probably takes the cake. Americans want sustainable foods, sustainable business practices, and sustainable energy policies. Yet, sustainability is the problem for most United States based microfinance institutions.
The Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown program, CCURB, has awarded CGF $5,000 to research the feasibility of providing ‘green credit builder loans’ in Providence, Rhode Island. These loans will finance the cost of small-scale energy efficiency upgrades in households, such as programmable thermostats, that reduce energy consumption and costs. The loans will also enable the borrower to build her or her credit history while creating a more comfortable home or apartment that benefits from lower energy costs. The CCURB program consists of “$300,000 to support of projects lead by students, staff and faculty designed to reduce carbon emissions in the greater Providence area.” CGF’s green credit builder loan model will enable CCURB’s funds to be recycled into countless project cycles, thereby maximizing benefit to the community and the environment while also ensuring that students will have more projects to work on—providing them with valuable skills and experiences so that they can become leaders on social and environmental issues. CGF is the first microlender in the country to develop the green credit builder loan product, and we are excited to demonstrate its power and work with other organizations to take our idea to scale.
The Capital Good Fund (CGF) will be having an information session for Brown students interested in volunteering for the organization beginning in the Fall of 2009. The information session will be held on campus at 8 p.m. on April 28th in Salomon 003.
As the recession deepens, more and more small businesses are finding it harder to get access to lines of credit and loans in order to sustain and grow their business. As a result, according to a recent NY Times article, microlenders like The Capital Good Fund are seeing a dramatic uptick in the amount of applications they are receiving. Traditionally, microlenders have focused on low and moderate income individuals who would otherwise be unable to access capital from mainstream financial institutions due to poor credit history or other barriers. However, the recession is driving successful, established businesses to microlenders as well—for the simple reason that they cannot get loans elsewhere.
Fortunately for these small businesses—and for the microlenders themselves—“Federal lawmakers added substantial new financing for microloans to the economic stimulus package approved last month. They allocated $30 million to the Small Business Administration’s microloan program, which will be added to the agency’s existing $20 million earmarked for microloans.” One of the interesting results of a recession is that more people become entrepreneurial in order to make ends meet; thus in addition to seeing more applications from existing businesses, microlenders are also experiencing an increase in applications from low and moderate income entrepreneurs.
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
Help us serve your community! Click on the "Donate Now" tab at the top of the page or "Get Involved" to learn about how you can partner with CGF.
