| For Immediate Release |
Media Contact: |
| October 21, 2008 |
Elizabeth Castleberry, 206.652.8736 or |
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IN UNSTABLE ECONOMY, MICROCREDIT GIVES HOPE,
OPPORTUNITY TO THE POOR
SEATTLE, Wash., USA (October 21, 2008) – On Tuesday, October 28, more than 1,200 supporters of microfinance will gather in Seattle to celebrate the work of Global Partnerships and expand the reach of financial services to people living in poverty in Latin America.
Global Partnerships (GP) serves more than 610,000 microcredit borrowers through its 21 partners in six Latin American countries. One of these microentrepreneurs, María Argentina Osorto, will share her story of success during Global Partnerships’ Business of Hope Luncheon at 12 noon on October 28 at the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle. Osorto is a microcredit borrower served by GP’s microfinance partner FUNDAHMICRO in Choluteca, Honduras. Married at 14 and a mother of five by the time she was 21, she started by selling vegetables near her children’s school so she could be near them while she worked. She used her first microloans to invest in her business and build savings until she was able to rent a stall at the local market. Today, Osorto has repaid 11 successively larger loans and grown her business into a thriving grocery store. With her profits, Osorto has sent all five of her children to university. Osorto advises other borrowers, “Work to make progress, not just to pay the loan.”
Other featured speakers at this year’s event include Sam Daley-Harris, Founder and President of RESULTS and Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, a forum of microcredit practitioners and other stakeholders who seek to reach 175 million of the world's poorest families with microcredit by 2015.
Microfinance gained popularity in 2006 when Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in lending to the poor in Bangladesh. With a repayment rate of 98 percent, microfinance continues to be one of the most promising strategies for combating global poverty. The mission and the repayment rate have attracted philanthropic and private sector capital from investors who seek both social and financial returns.
Loans as little as $100 can help someone start or expand a business, providing a family with income needed to feed, clothe and educate a family. However, according to GP estimates, only 15 percent of the 60 million people in Latin America who would benefit from microfinance are being reached. By investing capital and management expertise in high-performing Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs), Global Partnerships ensures financial services such as small business loans, mortgages and tuition assistance loans can be made available to thousands of new borrowers, especially those in rural areas who are typically underserved by microfinance institutions.
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About Global Partnerships
Global Partnerships is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding opportunity for people living in poverty. GP has MFI partners in six countries: Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru. The organization has offices in Seattle, Wash. and Managua, Nicaragua. For more information or to schedule an interview with Sam Daley-Harris, María Argentina Osorto, GP co-founder Bill Clapp or GP CEO & President Rick Beckett, please see the contact above.
This event is made possible in part through the generous support of the Matthew G. Norton Company, MCM - A Meisenbach Company, Coastal Transportation, Inc., Expeditors International, McKinstry Co. Charitable Foundation, ROAD Apparel, Seattle University Center for Leadership Formation, Waldron & Company, The Boeing Company, CityBank, Grounds for Change, KPMG LLP, Laird Norton Company LLC, Laird Norton Tyee, NDG Investment Group, Polygon Northwest Company, Pro-Build Fund, Statements Tile, Stoneway Concrete and Theo Chocolate.
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