Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56535
Human Side of Finance' 'The by Sharon Shinn T he current decade has been a high-profile one for microfinance. The U.N. declared 2005 the Year of Microcredit, while in 2006 the Nobel Foundation committee jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to microfinance legends Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. In early 2009, ACCION International presented a petition to the World Economic Forum in Davos, signed by 20,000 people sup- porting the initiative "Lend to End Poverty." "All of these efforts bring more attention to those who live as part of the poor on our planet, and they highlight one approach to addressing pov- erty," says María Otero, presi- dent and CEO of ACCION, which is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. But it's not as if Otero waited for the year—or the decade— of microcredit to begin addressing poverty. Even before joining ACCION in 1986, she sought out roles in organizations heavily focused on social responsibility, such as the Centre for Devel- opment and Population Activities, the Development Group for Alternative Policies, and the Inter-American Foundation. She has served on the U.N. Advisors Group for Inclusive Financial Sec- tors since 2006. 18 María Otero, president and CEO of ACCION International, hopes to see microfinance gain momentum in the business world and the business school. BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2009