Hongqing Chen
We at Wokai get lots of inquiries about building careers in microfinance. Hongqing Chen, from our Seattle Chapter, has been researching this very question, and today she shares the story of one young professional in this field: Che Wong.
On my first visit to Washington CASH, I met Che Wong. Coincidently Jim Thomas knows Che too as she used to work for Community Capital Development (CCD) as a counselor. Today, I had the pleasure to learn more about her experiences in microfinance.
That's Che with another Peace Corps Volunteer. Photos courtesy of Che Wong.
“I have always wanted to work in microfinance and learned about Muhammad Yunus in school,” Che started. She then said that she always wanted to work in the non-profit organizations dedicated to community development. I was impressed. I went through MBA and Ph.D programs in finance without knowing the term. Students now are much better served. As our conversation went on, I gathered the following facts about this extraordinary young lady:
Che graduated from University of Oregon with a BA in business administration with a focus on micro entrepreneurship. She then went to Cape Verde in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. For one and a half years, she worked on HIV awareness and microfinance, among other duties.
It was interesting to hear about Che’s experience in Cape Verde. In order to communicate with locals, Che had to learn to speak the local version of Portuguese. She spent most of her time explaining the microfinance program to people. At first people thought those were not loans but grants. One of her favorite cases was about a young man. He borrowed $500 to buy tools and the first animal to start a butchery shop. She found his operation techniques fascinating. When he obtained an animal to butcher, he would go around the village asking people what part they would buy until the last piece of the animal was sold. Then he could do the butchering and send meat to those people. Che became one of his clients too.
Market in Cape Verde.
Santo Antao, Cape Verde.
After that experience, she came to Seattle, first working for CCD then became a loan officer at ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia, a subsidiary of ShoreBank Corporation. At the end of our conversation, I thanked Che for her time and promised to continue it in the near future. There is so much I need to learn from her. I thank Washington CASH for bringing her to me.
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