MicroBusiness Mentors

I recently became a Spanish trainer for a unique organization called MicroBusiness Mentors (MBM).

MBM was founded in 2002 by a group of students at Brigham Young University. These social entrepreneurs were committed to changing the world, and dove into the world of microcredit. They set out with the goal of out to provide sustainable assistance to the Hispanic community in Utah Valley.

Their development strategy was based on research that showed a need for small business training and financial services among the low-income Hispanic community in Provo and surrounding areas. Working with Dr. Warner Woodworth, the students launched a small-business training and microcredit program designed to provide opportunities to underprivileged Hispanic entrepreneurs. From the beginning, MBM experienced great success, providing quality training, mentoring, and funding to qualified microentrepreneurs. Program participants started or expanded successful business ventures in diverse areas.

In order to expand its impact, MBM has partnered with Community Action and Centro Hispano, Provo-based organizations supported by United Way. Under the United Way umbrella, MicroBusiness Mentors qualifies as an organization with 501(c)3 status.

Information taken from MBM's website http://www.microbusinessmentors.org/

Many people didn't believe microfinance would ever be successful when it was started by Mohammad Yunus in a small village in Bangladesh.  They didn't believe the borrowers would pay back their loans, nor did they believe such a small loan could help people improve their economic situation.  Now that indisputable evidence shows the effectiveness of microfinance in third-world countries, microfinance advocates are starting microfinance organizations in the United States. Despite societal norms suggesting that setting up microfinance organization in the U.S. will never work, microfinance pioneers like Warner Woodworth are motivated by the success stories of people creating better lives for them and their families through microfinance.

On the MicroBusiness Mentors website the founder of MBM, Warner Woodworth, talks about the success of the program and its impacts on society:
   
When we launched this little project in my Social Entrepreneur class back in 2003, many voices warned us we would not succeed....We knew the opposite was true. They claimed that BYU students were merely youngsters who knew nothing about microcredit, banking, or starting businesses. Again, [we]proved them wrong.

I think such individuals just simply could not envision the possibilities. Remember the insightful words of the great German philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “If the eye were not attuned to the sun, men could not see it.” As we look back on 5 years of increasing social and economic impacts, the evidence is clear: We could see the light of the sun. By doing so we now have a business model that works right here in Utah Valley.