Changing the Context to Change the World: Innovation and Social Entrepreneurs, Nonprofits and Philanthropy

Our Social Entrepreneur and Microfinancing event last night was a total success-sold out, inspiring speakers changing the world, and a great audience, many who stayed over an hour after the program asking questions and talking with us about their own projects to help people out of poverty. This program was the kick-off to a series of events we are planning in the next year.

This lens is about expanding our creative thinking and innovation in forming partnerships between Social Entrepreneurs, corporate and foundation philanthropists, individual donors, nonprofits and other agencies, to solve world and community problems. Social media really helped us market the event, as well as traditional networking-we only had a little over two weeks to get the word out!

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We CAN eliminate poverty in our lifetime, and from the presentations last night, it was clear that microfinancing and Social Entrepreneurship are proving to be the most effective tools we can use. I'll post more information soon, and feel free to leave your own comments or questions in my guestbook (below).

Global Initiative to Advance Entrepreneurship

Event: May 10, 2007
Alleviating Poverty Through Microfinance:
Three Bay Area Programs Initiate Social Change

Location:

Hotel Rex
562 Sutter Street (at Mason)
San Francisco, CA 94102
P: 415.433.4434

Time: 6:00 pm check in; 6:30pm-8:00pm program
Cost: $30.00/includes dinner
Register in advance at: http://sfmicrocredit.eventbrite.com/

Microcredit is breaking the cycle of poverty. By providing credit via small loans to the poor, microcredit programs are transforming the lives of millions of people around the world.

Three featured speakers include:

Vijay Kapoor, I Create India. I Create, Inc., provides Integrated Entrepreneurship Training to disadvantaged communities in India. Vijay will discuss how I Create is working with Bay Area nonprofits to "adopt" villages in low-income areas in northern India and providing training and seed money to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Bob Graham, NamasteDirect. Bob is founder and Chief Executive Officer of NamasteDirect, a San Francisco-based nonprofit focusing on microcredit in Central America by providing small loans to first time women borrowers. Bob will discuss opportunities to provide microcredit to underserved communities in Central America.

Keith Axtell, Rotary International District 5150. Keith is World Community Service Chair for Rotary District 5150, serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area. He will discuss local Rotary microcredit programs in Guayaquil, Ecuador, resulting in three hundred small businesses in one of the poorest areas of the country.

Who Should Attend?

This two hour event is for anyone interested in the exciting field of microfinance, including nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, and members of the business community. The event will encourage innovation among organizations already participating in microfinance programs, and provide opportunities to form strategic partnerships to build and expand the outreach and success of microcredit and microfinance.

Sponsored by Rotary Club San Francisco Golden Gate, Global Initiative to Advance Entrepreneurship, Creative Sage and other nonprofit and business partners, this is the first of an ongoing series showcasing social entrepreneurship initiatives in the Bay Area and around the world. This series will be comprised of speakers, expert panels and film screenings that showcase the emerging field of social entrepreneurship. To learn more, visit http://www.givefoundationonline.org.