To recap, my trip to Cambodia over spring break was a due-diligence visit on behalf of Deutsche Bank looking into a loan request they received from a local Cambodian micro-finance institution (MFI) called AMK.  In order for AMK to give the small loans  (<$500) to its lenders,  they need capital. The loan request to Deutsche Bank was for this capital. During our week there, we had extensive meetings with every department and the Board at AMK, visited multiple local village offices and experienced a loan payment collection meeting in the villagers home.

The experience was enlightening to understand more about how micro-finance really works. It is such a buzz word in the finance and development world at the moment. I knew it well from books but seeing it first hand gave me a new sense of appreciation for its intricacies.  Everyone is looking for a clear solution to solve poverty around the world and many are quick to diminish micro-finance loans because there are few results that appear sustainable. I realized just how difficult it was to monitor and evaluate the micro-finance industry during our trip. Normal measures of growth (increased annual income, increased literacy rates, improved nutrition, etc.) are extremely difficult to capture from the marginal success of a $100 loan. However, and more importantly, that is not to say growth hasn't occurred. It simply means we as the monitors and evaluators aren't looking at the right indicators. For instance, one family we met with took the profits from their loan and added a wall to their home. Their home now has all four walls. There was a success from that loan, we just need to re-evaluate our own evaluation of it. And secondly, I am even more aware now that the success of micro-finance loans will not come in from this generation. It will be a slow moving fly-wheel that will continue to grow and improve as each generation gets another added benefit- another wall on their house, another year of schooling, another year of life. And one day, a future generation will be able to look back and absolutely be able to see the different the micro-finance loan made years before.

I am pleased to highlight that the University of Denver is the only higher ed. institution in the states that has such a partnership with a leading finance institution working on sustainable development practices, like micro-finance. And my class was the first one offered the opportunity to make the in-country due diligence trip as compared to pure file evaluations from here in the classroom. The trip and evaluations were a large success and we unanimously supported AMK's request to Deutsche Bank.

AMK is doing fantastic work in Cambodia improving the lives of local people. They offer some of the smallest loans in the country thus serving an entire section of the population that most other microfinance insitutions ignore. If you are interested in learning more about them you can check out their website at www.amkcambodia.com . AMK has also partnered with KIVA, an organization connecting individuals to lenders so you can directly provide a small loan to a person in need, as the business prospers your loan gets repaid to you. For more information on this wonderful (and legitimate) connection check out http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=109 .

As a side note, from this very interesting experience I am now evaluating getting certified as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Who knows what the future has in store!