Microlumbia evolved out of one Columbia Business School student’s desire to find the best way to make an impact.

As a first-year MBA student at CBS in the Fall of 2006, Microlumbia founder David del Ser Bartolome led his 60-student cluster to raise $3,300 for a non-profit that funded educational supplies for public schools. When he saw how thrilled his classmates were with the thank-you notes they received from the children, which included pictures of young students using their new materials, David wondered how best to inspire and put to use this enthusiasm and interest in philanthropy and fundraising. In particular, he wanted to know how else Columbia Business School students could help people in the developing world and learn by doing so.

On a school trip to Rwanda in January 2007, over African beer with other like-minded MBA students, David discussed how best to engage his classmates in having a social impact. They discussed Kiva.org, which was just reaching ‘star’ status on the philanthropic scene, as a model organization because its microfinance basis appealed to students both inclined towards social enterprise and those primarily interested in finance.

When he returned to campus he developed his idea, recruited more students, (including co-founder Katie Leonberger) and began holding weekly meetings aimed at developing a plan for his organization with continued focus on microfinance. During this time David was fueled by a visit from Kiva’s CEO, Matt Flannery, who came to campus to talk about his organization and hear more about what the CBS students were working on. 

In late fall 2007 The Bottom Line, the business school newspaper, published a story about David del Ser Bartolome’s student microfinance working group. The positive response to the article confirmed that students, faculty, alumni, and other distinguished associates of the business school were interested in a microfinance organization. In fact, Ehud Houminer, an Executive in Residence at Columbia, contacted David directly and pledged funds toward further development of a student run microfinance organization. This inspired and motivated David and his team.  They began in-depth discussions with professors and local professionals experienced in microfinance investment and management to continue development. During a key meeting in early 2008, Columbia Business School finance professor Suresh Sundaresan suggested the team look beyond simply fundraising and into investing directly in microfinance institutions or indirectly through established microfinance funds.

Over the course of many meetings, conferences, and seminars the group’s focus narrowed and they decided that their new organization would invest directly in early-stage microfinance institutions and advise them through pro-bono consulting services. They pulled together a Board of Directors, established a relationship with legal council and, on January 30, 2008, incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization. Legally independent from Columbia Business School but heavily supported by the Social Enterprise Program as an affiliated non-profit, Microlumbia’s express purpose is to utilize student resources for consulting with and investing in microfinance organizations to develop the next generation of microfinance leaders.

Since its incorporation, Microlumbia has developed multiple relationships with microfinance organizations, hosted a broad array of speakers at the business school, consulted internationally, performed investment due diligence on a variety of organizations, and continuously refined and improved its corporate structure to best meet the long term needs of its students and microfinance partners. Highlights include: consulting projects for Sarala and SKS in India; due diligence trip to Banco Palmas in Brazil; and, on campus speakers from Standard and Poor’s, Morgan Stanley, Financial Access Initiative among others.