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UNITED NATIONS CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Microfinance |
Issue 5 / September - October 2004 |
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News | Harvard Students Launch Global Microentrepreneurship Awards to Promote Small Business Contest Winners Will Ring in the International Year of Microcredit
The Global Microentrepreneurship Awards fundraiser, held on 21 July in New York City, raised more than $1,800, which will be used to further awareness of microfinance and the awards program itself. Dozens of microfinance interns, graduate students and specialists gathered at local hotspot Serena for a few drinks and a good time to help promote this international cause. Originally the brainchild of four MBA candidates at Harvard Business School; Deirdre Cooper, Mike Kerlin, Mei Chee, and Bhakti Mirchandani, the Global Microentrepreneurship Awards program will attempt to publicize the UN-designated International Year of Microcredit, scheduled to launch on 18 November 2004, by organizing contests for low-income entrepreneurs in eight countries. Distinguished panels of prominent leaders from each of the eight participating countries will judge the micro businesses to select winners with the greatest economic and social impact on their families and communities. Prizes will range from cash to calculators to livestock and winners will open stock exchanges throughout the world as a coordinated celebration and promotional event for the Year. The idea was born when Christina Barrineau, Chief Technical Advisor at the United Nations Microfinance Unit, requested that Bhakti Mirchandani coordinate the opening of stock exchanges worldwide by microfinance clients on the launch day. With the help of former Accion International CEO Michael Chu, Ms. Mirchandani realized that the coordination of the stock markets would have a much greater impact if they celebrated something in particular. With the help of Ms. Barrineau, Mr. Chu, and Citigroup’s Leslie Meek, this evolved into a business plan contest for the self-employed poor in a wide range of countries. Faced with a project of a much larger scope, Ms. Mirchandani recruited three friends to create a core team, which in turn established a student-faculty network of some 40 members at the Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School for Government to organize the Global Microentrepreneurship Awards. The student-faculty network is currently recruiting panels of professionals in business development services, MFI management, journalism, and government to act as judges for the eight business plan competitions for the self-employed poor. At the fundraiser, country selections were formally declared to be: the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Indonesia, Cambodia, Pakistan, Mozambique, Afghanistan, and Rwanda, with plans to replicate the model in 17 additional countries, after the success of the first eight first eight is assessed. “The event's success was driven by tight coordination of a large number of groups and a high level of receptivity to microfinance. This bodes well for the potential impact of the Global Entrepreneurship Awards, and more broadly, the Year of Microfinance,” said Ms. Mirchandani at the fundraiser. Ms. Barrineau addressed the crowd later in the evening and thanked them for their continuing support for microfinance. She also encouraged them to actively participate in future programs. "We are pleased that so many aspiring young leaders have demonstrated an interest in microfinance by attending this event," said Mike Kerlin, also an MBA candidate at Harvard who plays a pivotal role in organizing the contest. The Global Microfinance Awards pilot program hosted another fundraiser on August 5th at the Dragonfly in Washington DC. For information on upcoming events please contact: Ms. Bhakti Mirchandani at bmirchandani@mba2005.hbs.edu or Ms. Deirdre Cooper at dcooper@mba2005.hbs.edu
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