Our Blog

Meet our Fellows: Katherine Tan

Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 10:29

Based in Washington, DC, Katherine Tan is the Business Operations and Technology Strategy Fellow, supporting Grameen Foundation. Katherine comes to the Grameen Foundation with the goal of applying her strategic and operational management experience to the Foundation's mission at the intersection of technological innovation and empowering the poor.  She spent the first 4 years of her career in the private sector at Bridgewater Associates, a global asset manager, where she was a member of the firm's management development track. She served for 3 years in a chief-of-staff capacity to... Read More

Meet our Fellows: James Farquharson

Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 10:27

Based in Haiti, James Farquharson is a Strategic Planning and Financial Modeling Fellow, supporting Sèvis Finansye Fonkoze, S.A. (Fonkoze Financial Services), Haiti's largest microfinance institution.        James has wide ranging experience in financial services and financial management as well as in international and domestic policy making and regulation. Over the last 4 years he has worked in a number of roles at the Bank of England and the UK Financial Services Authority. At the FSA he has been responsible for the supervision of financial services companies. More recently, at the Bank of... Read More

Meet our Fellows: Enrique Costoya

Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 10:22

Based in Kenya, Enrique Costoya is the Customer Success Strategy Fellow, supporting Grameen Foundation's TaroWorks program. Originally from Madrid, Spain, Enrique graduated with degress in both Economics and Business Management from Carlos IIII University of Madrid and obtained a Masters in e-Commerce from Dublin City University. He has worked and lived in Ireland, France, Zambia and more recently in Montana. He brings over 13 years of work experience to his Fellowship, with a strong focus on strategic business planning, customer relationship management, customer engagement strategies, change... Read More

Meet our Fellows: Carol Jiang

Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 10:17

Based in Uganda, Carol Jiang is the Mobile Financial Services Fellow, supporting the Village Savings and Loan Association. Carol's passion about the potential of product innovation and technology to create true impact in society drew her to the exciting opportunities at Grameen. Born in a small village in China, Carol grew up in suburban Michigan, before attending The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Finance and Marketing. Prior to working at Grameen, Carol spent the past few years in management consulting, with focusing on market growth, business case... Read More

Meet our Fellows: Camilla Holmstroem

Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 10:08

Based in Uganda, Camilla Holmstroem is the Business Development and Project Management Fellow, supporting Grameen Foundation's Bankers without Borders program. Camilla has over 6 years experience in finance working at a couple of different investment banks in the City in London. She spent the majority of her time on a commodity trading floor selling oil risk management products to a wide variety of clients across Europe. During this time she was part of a team of two that successfully established and built up the first global petrochemical and plastics trading desk in the world. Camilla also... Read More

Meet our Fellows: BYOUNG-HWA HWANG

Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 10:06

Based in Uganda, Byoung-Hwa Hwang is the Strategy Fellow for Integrated Solutions, supporting Grameen Foundation's Financial and Integrated Services programs. Prior to joining Grameen Foundation, Byoung worked at The World Bank Group as a Communications and Knowledge Management Specialist, focusing on the topic areas of private sector development and urbanization. She has also worked as a Management Consultant at Accenture, focusing on Human Capital, Change Management, and Organizational Performance with clients across the financial services, health-care, and ICT sectors.  Byoung holds a... Read More

GF Fellow Laura Burns: In Celebration

Thursday, September 11, 2014 - 09:29

It's the last day of my fellowship, so you'll have to forgive me if this post is a bit scattered. The thing is, at the end of my fellowship, I don't quite know where to begin this post. It's funny, because at the start of my fellowship, I didn't know where to begin either. Fresh out of graduate school, and without a lot of expectations for the fellowship other than working for an organization for which I had long admired, I arrived in Medellin, Colombia a little wide-eyed, and I had to take things one day at a time. So maybe I'll start this post the same way I started my time in Colombia:... Read More

Upcoming Webinar: Cassava and Cell Phones: A first-hand look at Grameen Foundation's work in Sub-Saharan Africa

Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - 10:52

Join us for an upcoming webinar!  Cassava and Cell Phones: A first-hand look at Grameen Foundation's work in Sub-Saharan Africa Thursday, September 11, 2014 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT RSVP HERE. Space is limited. The vast majority of the world's poorest countries are in Africa, and nearly half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s 910 million people are estimated to live on less than US$1.25 per day. Grameen Foundation has been working in Sub-Saharan Africa for more than a decade, improving the livelihoods of the region’s poor by building relevant mobile-based solutions and increasing access to financial... Read More

GF Fellow Laura Burns: Imagine If

Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - 10:46

Imagine if. “Imagine if we could track farmer production, and set production goals.” “Imagine if all our potatoes were of high quality.” “Imagine if we could track products from the point they were delivered by the farmer to the point they arrive at the client’s warehouse.” Imagine if. A few weeks ago, Ramiro Cadavid, our Monitoring and Evaluation Lead, and I were back in Pasto in southwest Colombia visiting our mobile sourcing (mSourcing) project. The purpose of this visit was to observe the use of the tool in the field and identify ways we can continue to improve it, making work in the... Read More

BwB Recognizes International Youth Day

Tuesday, August 12, 2014 - 13:26

Today is International Youth Day, a day to recognize and celebrate the potential of youth as partners in today's global society. We’re celebrating by sharing a few stories about how our dedicated Skillanthropists used their time and skills to strengthen organizations committed to giving children and youth the tools, support, and opportunities they need to help break the cycle of poverty! Improving Financial Inclusion for Children Children and youth represent one-third of the world’s population, and in some countries, especially emerging markets, they can constitute almost half of the... Read More