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Microfinance in Action Smith Students Travel to Ethiopia to Conduct Field Research
For Fana Mersha, the opportunity--which combined her passion for her Ethiopian-American heritage, her finance coursework and an interest in microfinance--was too good to pass up. Mersha, a senior, traveled to Ethiopia this winter with fellow student Hiwot Mesgina to conduct field research on the feasibility of bringing Kiva's online micro-lending platform to the country. The research is part of a larger effort by Harambe Ethiopia, an organization headed by recent Smith alumnus Yonas Beshawred. Mersha said her interest in microfinance stemmed from a semester-long internship with Grameen Foundation. "I liked the fact that it's not based solely on profit, but instead on social benefit," she said. The team found that doing business in Ethiopia was surprisingly similar to the United States. They set up appointments with local microfinance experts and bank officials from the public and private sectors, with the goal of assessing the current regulatory framework in the microfinance industry. What they found is that Ethiopia's current macroeconomic issues will make it difficult to work with a lending model like Kiva's--issues that can only be resolved through negotiations with government officials. Mersha said it was frustrating to see the potential changes that an organization like Kiva could make to the microfinance industry in Ethiopia if only the regulatory climate was different. But, nevertheless, she and Mesgina left feeling hopeful. "If we continue to partner with Kiva and work with the government, it can be a reality," she said. The trip was made possible by funding from the Smith School's Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER). "It was an amazing opportunity to go beyond secondary research, to get on the ground and talk to officials," Mersha said. "I consider it a very valuable trip." Mersha plans to work for Johnson & Johnson when she graduates in May, but said she fully intends to return to working in microfinance in East Africa in the future.
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This winter, two Smith undergraduates had the unique opportunity
to put theory into practice, delving deep into the complexities
of the microfinance industry in a developing country by
witnessing them first-hand.
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SPRING 2010 |