Why we chose Greg as a Fellow

Armed with a fistful of finance and accounting degrees, Greg was ready to leave a career in the automotive industry and apply his skills in a very different kind of endeavor. He and his family wound up in Samoa where he launched and brought to profitability the first microenterprise organization in the Pacific Islands.

Microfinance has brought access to capital to millions of poor people around the world. Looking at the track record of microfinance in terms of real wealth created, Greg decided that microfinance isn't enough: you need to deliver micro enterprise creation to empower families out of poverty. MicroDreams proves that business training could be delivered efficiently to create thousands of successful microenterprises through a financially self-sufficient operation. Their model combines 1) a requirement to use initial loans to start a business with 2) effective business training and 3) a tailored approach to loan progression that helps ensure that additional capital is there as soon as people are ready for it.