The media has created quite a blitz over the much anticipated meeting between President Obama and Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez at this weekend’s Summit of the Americas. However, a much more interesting development and one that pertains directly to social entrepreneurship was President Obama’s announcement of a $100 million dollar fund for microfinance in the Americas.
The microfinance growth fund is designed for microfinance institutions in the Western Hemisphere who have been affected by the financial crisis. The fund will allow these institutions to continue to make small loans and will “help rebuild their capacity to lend during this difficult period,” the White House said in a statement.
According to a recent report, there are approximately 565 microfinance institutions in the region providing $9 billion in loans to about 9 million micro enterprises. Micro and small businesses provide most of the jobs in the hemisphere and are therefore imperative in ensuring that credit is available to small lenders. We couldn’t agree more and applaud the efforts to support entrepreneurship everywhere.
Image Source: cleveland.com
