ACCION International

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ACCION International is a US-based nonprofit organization that microfinance institutions provide in their work financial services low income, supported. ACCION provides help in the areas of management, technology, debt and equity investments and offers training for microfinance institutions and organizations that support microfinance institutions. ACCION advocates the commercial model of microfinance, according to which microfinance institutions should achieve both social and financial targets.

history

ACCION was founded in 1961 in the context of the grassroots movement as an organization aimed at helping community development. In the beginning, young American academics traveled to Venezuela to serve as catalysts in building connections between local business people and other people with access to resources, on the one hand, and the urban poor, on the other. The aim was to help the poor better organize their efforts and resources in order to enable them to help themselves.

In 1973 microloans began in Recife ( Brazil ). After some early positive experiences with the granting of microloans, the organization began to increasingly focus its activities on the development of microfinance institutions and the support of the growing microfinance industry. For the next 18 years, ACCION worked exclusively with microfinance institutions in Central and South America , but broke that tradition in 1991 when the organization set up a microfinance program for poor entrepreneurs in Brooklyn , New York City . During the next five years, ACCION expanded its operations to the rest of the United States , with offices in San Antonio , Albuquerque , Chicago, and San Diego .

In October 2000, the organization expanded to Africa , where it worked with regional microfinance institutions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa . A partnership was established with Ecobank Transnational in 2006. At the same time, the organization began to set up branches in India in 2005 , including in Bangalore , Mumbai and Patna . In 2008 the think tank Center for Financial Inclusion, financed and managed by ACCION, opened .

Finally, in 2009, the organization expanded its activities to the People's Republic of China , where it established a branch in Inner Mongolia .

organization

The head office is located in Boston , Massachusetts and is led by Michael Schlein . According to its own information, ACCION International provided 5.1 million people with microloans in 2011, which had an impact on the lives of 25.5 million people - debtors, family members, employees.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Beginnings of Accions (English) ( Memento from May 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Accions Management Team (English) ( Memento of 24 November 2012 at the Internet Archive )