Members attending the October
20 Michiana MEDA
chapter meeting held at
Greencroft
Senior Center
heard
Gil Crawford
speak on microfinance. Gil, general manager of MicroVest Capital Management,
has over 20 years experience with microfinance institutions and capital markets
and has worked extensively in Latin America and Africa, as well as in Asia.
MicroVest Capital Management,
LLC, founded by MEDA along with CARE and Seed Capital Development Fund, allows
select clients, including the Calvert Foundation, with their microfinance
investment goals.
Microfinance is a powerful
development tool that has created economic independence for 100 million women
and men over the past 25 years. Microfinance is about creating wealth. Two-thirds
of the people in the world don’t have access to credit or finances. Loan sharks
get ten percent interest per day. Microfinance charges its customers 40%
interest on the loans. Loan sharks charge over 300% interest on a loan. The
reason 40% interest is charged is because administrative costs are high on
small loans. The average loan is for $200 and is unsecured.
Anyone can invest in
MicroVest with a minimum of $1,000 a year. The mPower Investment Program
provides investors with the opportunity to make a difference in the fight
against global poverty while earning a financial return. MEDA owns 45% of
Microvest. Sarona Fund Investors were transferred to MicroVest.
Monday, November 10, 2008
We had a presentation
at Eighth Street Mennonite Church by Catherine Sobrevega and Mahbooba
Waizi. Catherine is MEDA's country manager in Afghanistan and is
responsible for the project, "Through the Garden Gate: Strategies for
Integrating Women into Sustainable Markets." This project helps women
improve the quality and yield of their home based gardens and build
links to sustainable markets in order to increase family incomes.
Currently, more than 1,500 women participate in the project. Earlier
this year, the project was a finalist at the 16th Annual Canadian
Awards for International Cooperation in the Centre for Intercultural
Learning Award for Gender Equity Achievement. Mahbooba Waizi is the CEO
of the Afghan Women's Business Federation and is joining Catherine to
speak about emerging women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan.
November 6-9
“Business as a Calling 2008: Dividends of Hope”
The 2008 bi-national convention took place at The Columbus, A Renaissance Hotel, in Columbus, Ohio.
Program Year Celebrated
The final
meeting of Michiana MEDA’s program year was held at BelmontMennoniteChurch on May 10.
Following a Tanzanian meal President Rob Steiner led the annual meeting.
Recognition
was given to four persons terminating their work on the Board. Susan Gingerich,
John Nussbaum, and Rob Steiner have been Board members. Willard Roth served as
ambassador. New Board members are Jessica Berkey, Conrad Brenneman, Renee
Hostetler, and Lowell Nafziger.
Melissa
Kinsey explained the partnership between ASSETS and GoshenCollege.
Nineteen persons recently graduated from the program. A new mentoring program
will begin this fall. A Michiana MEDA Investment Club report was read. Pastors are
encouraged to apply for a grant to attend the MEDA Convention.
Wally Kroeker, the director
of publications for MEDA and the editor of The Marketplace magazine, was the guest speaker. He showed a
video of the Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) project in Tanzania and also
spoke about Frozen Assets. He encouraged church leaders and pastors to focus their
ministries toward reaching out to our places of work in order to tap into
resources that are often “frozen.”
Michiana MEDA
PO Box 871
Goshen, IN 46527
Phone: 87-RSVP-MEDA or 877-787-6332
E-mail:
