2005 News Releases

For immediate release:
October 27, 2005

Media contact:
James Hoard
Phone: (214) 922-5307
e-mail: james.hoard@dal.frb.org

Dallas Fed Conference to Spotlight Emerging Market of Microenterprise

DALLAS—The role of microenterprise businesses as a bridge to the mainstream for low-wealth individuals and as a potential economic benefit for local communities is the focus of a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and World Affairs Council of Greater Dallas in coordination with Lucy Billingsley, founder of The Chiapas Project.

“Microenterprise: Building Assets in a Growing Market” will be Friday, Nov. 4, at the Dallas Fed, 2200 N. Pearl St. Participants can register to attend at www.dallasfed.org.

The event also will offer insight into microenterprise as an emerging market for financial institutions and investors, as well as an asset-building tool for low-wealth individuals and entrepreneurs.

Speakers will focus on the origins of microfinance and its purposes, successes, failures and possibilities for the future.
Alex Counts, president of Grameen Foundation USA, will present the keynote address, “The World of Microfinance: Its Global Origins & Evolution in the United States.”

Speakers also include James Carr of the Fannie Mae Foundation, Lisa Servon of New School University, Jennifer Tescher of ShoreBank Advisory Services, Janie Barrera of ACCION Texas, and Betsy Zeidman of the Milken Institute.

More information about the conference and a list of confirmed speakers can be found on the Dallas Fed web site: www.dallasfed.org.

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