The following is a letter I recently wrote to Bill and Melinda Gates in response to their "call to action" to the world's Billionaires to give away half their fortunes:
Dear Bill and Melinda,
I have enjoyed watching your efforts (along with Warren Buffet’s) over the past year to inspire the “Billionaires Club” to give away half of their wealth to charity. What an incredibly noble and impactful vision! I wish you the best of luck in this worthy endeavor and am happy to see your strategy is working with so many in such a short amount of time.
I am also excited to see the two of you traveling the world, pointing out diseases that your foundation is working hard to eradicate: AIDS, Malaria and Polio just to name a few. Someday, these may be diseases we only read about in history books because of your work. A vision to change the world for the better is an amazing thing and I applaud both of you for it! Recently, I have also noticed your foundation beginning to direct funds toward microfinance. While wiping out and eventually totally eradicating diseases is hugely important, I can’t imagine anything more sustainable and noble than trying to wipe out another horrible disease. One which is passed from generation to generation and is the root cause of so many ills in this world: the disease of poverty.
Through microfinance you are helping the poor help themselves. By making small loans in the developing world, you give millions of the poor access to working capital to start and expand their small businesses. These are banking services and credit which have traditionally been denied them by more traditional banking institutions; you are giving them the tools necessary to sustainably feed, clothe and educate their families. One additional and perhaps more overlooked aspect that is not as measurable (but just as powerful) is you are giving the poor both hope and dignity. Better yet, you are helping them discover within themselves their worth as human beings when they are getting a “hand-up” rather than a “hand-out.”
I have personally seen the miracle of microfinance in 8 countries and on 4 continents around the world and continue to be astonished at the amazing work ethic and absolute brilliance of micro-entrepreneurs in some of the poorest nations on earth. From the woman living on the northern coast of Haiti who separates salt from seawater in massive pools (that she dug herself) to sell the salt in the spice market… to the poor Bedouin woman living in the desolate Negev Desert in the south of Israel who opened her own convenience store to sell toiletries and other necessities to the local villagers and herdsmen. Not only are they caring for their families, but when I asked both women what the future held for them, they had big… BIG plans! From the man in Vietnam who used his microloan to buy and raise livestock and vegetables in a garden to sell in the market… that even raises fish in a large pond he dug in the backyard behind his hut to sell for food. To the Rwandan woman who was homeless with 4 children who ate one meal a day and couldn’t send her kids to school… that borrowed USD $50 to buy fish at the river, smoke it in her hut and sell it in the market. Now she feeds her family two meals a day and has them all in school... and has adopted two more children! This is IMPACTFUL!!! They ALL… every single one of them… have the EXACT same look in their eyes and on their faces: DIGNITY. And I am realizing on each trip that if we pity the poor, we rob them of that dignity.
However, things are not where they need to be. For every person in the world who is utilizing a microloan and paying it back (and it is still hard for me to believe that after 35 years of microfinance, the default rate is still BELOW 2 %!) there are 10 other hopeful micro-entrepreneurs who could do the same but still lack access to credit and banking services.
Enter what I have affectionately penned “MICROFINANCE 2.0” (I thought you’d like that, Bill). Microfinance 2.0 is the next evolution in microfinance… moving from the donor-driven world where only USD $40BB has been raised in 35 years and is circulating (and the need is over $300BB) to the world of investments. A world where the capital is engaged to provide funding for micro-entrepreneurs. Enter the new frontier of the MIV.
A MIV is a Microfinance Investment Vehicle, which ranges anywhere from ETF’s to Mutual Funds to Private Equity to Hedge funds of which more than 100 exist today. MIV’s don’t take donations from well-meaning philanthropists but rather they take actual investment dollars and invest that money directly into Microfinance Institutions (MFI) around the world… whether it is through debt issuance or direct equity investment in the MFI’s themselves. This changes the game not only for the poor but for the investors as they receive a nice return on their SRI (Socially Responsible Investment) money; additionally they help the poor help all over the world! A win-win if I’ve ever seen one!
So, Bill and Melinda, please consider setting a great example by investing in MIV’s. Then go on your own “Billionaires Club Road show 2.0” and inspire your fellow club members to INVEST some of their fortune in microfinance! As sustainable as this is, their wealth will GROW while helping eliminate poverty! So that many more generations of their family and their wealth can help and be the end of so many ills in our world…. Today and for years to come!
Warm Regards,
Mark D. Robeson
President
Global Microfinance Partners
www.globalmicrofinancepartners.com
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
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