Clinton recognizes microfinance club

By Jaclyn Youngblood     2/19/09 6:00pm

Owl Microfinance was one of 12 student groups nationwide to receive recognition from former president Bill Clinton at last weekend's Clinton Global Initiative University in Austin, Texas. Dillon Eng and Joshua Ozer, Owl Microfinance co-presidents, traveled to the University of Texas-Austin, along with Internal Vice President Tommy Fu and External Vice President Elena White, to attend lectures and workshops on poverty alleviation. The Rice students' organization works with independent clients to loan money to individual entrepreneurs and small businesses in developing countries that could not otherwise afford to sustain their initiatives, White, a Martel College freshman, said.

One of the group's goals is to make two-thirds of all loans to women.

"Women's empowerment really plays a huge role in developing countries," Eng, a Hanszen College sophomore, said.

---

---

So far, all of the loans made through Owl Microfinance have been to women and businesses led by women.

CGIU focuses on affecting change in areas such as education, climate change, global health, human rights and poverty alleviation. The meeting brought together students, university presidents, nongovernmental organizations and national youth organizations, encouraging them to make commitments to affect global change.

Ozer, a Will Rice College sophomore, and Fu, a Lovett College senior, said networking with microfinance organizations at other universities and attending the workshop sessions were the most helpful aspects of the conference.

White agreed, adding that the support and focus given by the leadership of the CGIU was beneficial.

"I think the process of applying to CGIU helped us more than anything else," she said. "Being able to define our goals ... and outlining the steps needed to get there was something CGIU made us do."

Students attended CGIU to work on projects such as recycling initiatives and aiding surgeons in developing countries, Ozer said.

Eng attended CGIU in 2008 and made a commitment to raise $10,000 to loan to countries around the world. Owl Microfinance arose from this commitment, coupled with the interest fostered by a global health class, Bioengineering 260, that Eng and Ozer took last spring.

This year, Owl Microfinance is committed to increasing the fundraising goals set by Eng last year. White said the group has raised about $5,000 thus far, through fundraisers like "Mr. Rice Asia" and a "pay it forward" tutor service, where the profit the tutor makes from working goes toward loans through Owl Microfinance.

The group's initiative was selected as one of 12 out of over 3,500 commitment proposals to be recognized by Clinton. Fu said he thought his organization was selected because the leadership of CGIU took a particular interest in the microfinance aspect of their proposal.

"Microfinance was the hot thing to do [at CGIU] this year," Fu said.

Owl Microfinance hopes to bring the endeavors of microfinance into the Rice community and onto the Rice campus.

"Here at Rice, there are a lot of people who want to be active, but a lot of the time the only thing they can offer is their time," Fu said.

Through their business model, Owl Microfinance strives to encourage student involvement in microfinance.

"Charity is great ... but a model that helps people help themselves out of poverty not only gives them dignity ... but it also enables the money to go a lot farther," Ozer said.

---