Microfinance: What’s In It for Today’s Teens?

 

Guest post by: Percy Allison Percy Allison is an intern at ACCION USA in New York. He is the co-founder the Trinity Microfinance Project (TMP) and the ACCION Youth Microfinance Council which is creating and connecting youth microfinance initiatives, starting in New York City. You can find TMP at www.trinitymicrofinanceproject.com or become a fan of Trinity Microfinance Project on Facebook What attracts a high school senior to microfinance? It may be hard to draw the comparison between a student's soccer struggle and the effort of the entrepreneur, but I would argue that the raw similarities are surprisingly real. During four years of struggling to become the varsity starting goalie I learned about risk, drive, persistence and perseverance. Every entrepreneur is taking a risk. They are starting their own business. They are taking a chance to succeed. Every young person takes risks. Every young person needs someone to give them a chance to prove to the world that they too can do it. Whether it is the teacher staying after class and giving an inspirational pep talk or the football coach giving the quarterback another chance after he threw the game-losing interception – every young person needs someone to believe in them – and so does the entrepreneur. This is why so many young people are fired up by microfinance. It is other people being creative and finding their own way. So are we. It is other people putting their heart out for something. So are we. It is other people being courageous, intelligent and believing in themselves and more importantly believing in the world to support them. I guess that is the big thing. They believe. As young people, that is the most important thing. We believe. We are new to life and we believe in it. We want to find our way. These entrepreneurs share that same contagious passion. How could we not be inspired? How could we not see ourselves in the ACCION USA client? There are a ton of organizations and a variety of ways to help alleviate poverty and do good. But among all of those, microfinance finds a special place in the heart of teens. In this way, helping the entrepreneur is like helping ourselves — seeing them achieve is seeing ourselves achieve. And it all is confirming our belief that in the end, success is believing in yourself.

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