Robert Hokanson
Vice President, Enterprise Mentors International
robert@enterprise-mentors.org

”Microenterprise Development: Providing Financial and Non-financial Services to the Poor”

Presentation Abstract:
Attempting to build on the success of microfinance, many organizations have struggled to also provide non-financial services to poor entrepreneurs. While the pitfalls of combining seemingly compatible financial and non-financial services are far from obvious, they pose real challenges to organizations that attempt to provide both. Building on the experience of Enterprise Mentors and other organizations, this presentation reviews some of the strategies that have been employed, discusses many of the challenges that have been confronted, and suggests research questions that need to be addressed in developing effective strategies for providing non-financial services to the poor.

View Video Presentation

Biography:
Robert Hokanson currently serves as Vice President and Program Director of Enterprise Mentors International, a microenterprise development organization with seven partner foundations in Latin America and the Philippines. Before joining EMI in 1996, Robert served an internship with Latter-day Saint Charities and spent a year in Bolivia as Director of the Andean Children’s Foundation. He also served in the Bolivia, Cochabamba Mission from 1988 to 1990. Robert attended Brigham Young University, earning a BA in Near Eastern Studies (1993), an MA in International Development (1996) and a Master of Organizational Behavior (1997). As a student he was active in BYU Students for International Development, the BYU Near Eastern Studies Student Association, and the BYU Honors Student Council. Robert and his wife, Rachel, have traveled extensively in Latin America and the Middle East. They currently live in St. Louis, Missouri and have four children.