MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ACCION USA's President Gina Harman Argues Microfinance Can Grow Small Business in the US "On a Much Larger Scale"

Gina Harman, President and CEO of ACCION USA, an affiliate of ACCION International, a private, US-based nonprofit organization with a global network of microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently argued on the Huffington Post website that microfinance now offers an unprecedented opportunity for job creation in the US. She underscores the growing need for finance for people wanting to launch small businesses, but are not able to given the downturned economy and lack of credit history. Ms Harman says that these are the people that microfinance can serve, citing that each ACCION loan helps create 2.4 jobs [1].

About ACCION International: ACCION International is a private, US-based nonprofit organization with the mission of alleviating poverty by providing financial products, such as microenterprise loans, business training and other financial services to its clients. ACCION was founded in 1961 and issued its first microloan in 1973 in Brazil. ACCION’s partner microfinance institutions provide loans to men and women entrepreneurs in 23 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the United States. As of 2009, ACCION’s network serves 3.3 million active clients and has a gross loan portfolio of USD 31.8 billion.

By Diana Baide, Research Assistant

[1] Huffington Post. “How Microfinance Is Fueling A New Small Business Wave” by Gine Harman, 3 November 2010

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-harman/were-lending-to-small-bus_b_777909.html

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