Newsflash
New Microlumbia Website
Later this month Microlumbia plans to unveil a sparkling new version of its website, updated by the head of the education team, Jake Goldberg. The goal of Microlumbia’s website is to communicate both internally with Microlumbia members, as well as with external parties in the microfinance community including potential donors and clients. We consider the site a first line of marketing communication, so aim to utilize it more proactively to get our name out there. Many of the changes to the site will be aesthetic, including a more user-friendly layout. Additionally, we plan to add a blog feature so Microlumbians can contribute commentary, and will be updating descriptions of what each team is working on. For those interested, the site will also be a good resource for general microfinance knowledge and will provide links to career information. The new website is scheduled to launch December 23rd, just in time for the holidays, and will be fully updated by early January.
Microlumbia takes part in Nationwide Simulcast
This fall Microlumbia participated in a nationwide simulcast of a microfinance course offered by University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. The course was taught by venture capitalist and former consultant, Sean Foote, and broadcast at over 40 campuses for over 500 students each week. The course focused on the business considerations of running for-profit MFIs and topics ranged from the basics of the microfinance model to how the financial crisis has affected MFIs. Professor Foote actively challenged students from around the country to engage in debates as to whether microfinance is sustainable and if it even works at all. CBS students could correspond with other schools via Skype during the sessions and could continue debates online at www.mficonnect.com. Each week the class hosted different speakers, including important figures in the field such as Premal Shah, President of Kiva.org, and Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui, Chairman of Compartamos and Managing Partner of IGNIA Partners. For those who were not able to attend the course, note that Microlumbia plans to offer this opportunity again next fall.