USD Hosts Microfinance Summit

On Thursday, April 28, USD will host the third annual San Diego Microfinance Summit, featuring leaders in microfinance who are providing small loans to entrepreneurs. The goal of the summit is to highlight the local and international work of San Diego’s microfinance organizations and the positive economic and social benefits they are helping to create.

The summit runs from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in USD’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice.

Microfinance leaders at this year’s event include: Gina Harman, CEO of ACCION Network; Giovanna Masci, Kiva regional director of The Americas; and Claudia Viek, CEO of CAMEO.

The summit will feature a plenary discussion, speaker panel and a series of breakout sessions on various topical issues related to microfinance. Lunch will be provided by local restaurateurs who are also current microfinance clients. In addition to food, there will be an artisan marketplace where other microfinance clients will sell their wares and services. Among the expected vendors will be artisans, bakers and entrepreneurs.

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.