On Wednesday, Girls in Tech hosted a panel discussion on “How Microfinance is Changing the Way We Live” featuring an all-star group of women who are leading the charge in microfinance today. Emily Gasner, executive director of TMC Development Working Solutions, Ashwini Narayanan, general manager at MicroPlace, Casey Wilson co-founder of Wokai, Michelle Kreger, microfinance partnerships manager at Kiva, and Shubha Shankaran, co-founder of United Prosperity shared their personal stories about how they came to be involved with microfinance, and how their organizations are using microfinance loans to help the working poor build self-sustaining businesses to pull themselves out of poverty.
While some organizations mainly provide only microfinance loan support to the poor, TMC Working Solutions and Wokai also provide training and support to help borrowers be better entrepreneurs with technical and business plan development assistance. This increases the likelihood that the business will be successful and the loan repaid.
Throughout the evening it was clear that the panelists all shared two traits: a deep passion for their work and a deep love of their jobs! What lucky women! To be sure, there were many of us in the audience who wanted to know how we could get involved in microfinance. Michelle from Kiva suggested that people start by going to Kiva.org to view the stories of borrowers, and start lending to get a sense for what it feels like. For those with language skills, she suggested volunteering translation services to Kiva by translating borrowers’ stories and profiles in their native language to English. Finally, she stressed getting on-the-ground field experience as the best way to get your foot in the door.
Emily from TMC Working Solutions pointed the audience to MicroMentor.org and suggested people who are interested in microfinance join the group Women Advancing Microfinance, where members meet once a month to provide professional development and support to each other and discuss opportunities and innovation in the industry.
A big thanks to all of wonderful panelists for sharing their personal stories with us and giving us a glimpse into the power of microfinance to greatly impact the lives of the working poor. Also, special thanks to Sundeep Ahuja, co-founder and president of The Extraordinaries, for moderating the evening’s panel.
