WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA)

Founded by microfinance pioneer Dr. John Hatch in 1985, The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) has been active in the global microfinance industry since its first microcredit program in El Salvador for low-income women in 1986. Operating in 21 countries with 2006 total assets of USD 252 million and a stated commitment to serving the poorest of the poor, FINCA relies on its grounding in Hatch’s Village Banking methodology, which dictates that local customers are the most knowledgeable regarding the management of their own assets. The model calls for cooperatives of 30 to 60 people to form around their mutual interest in pooling funds for inter-member loans and other financial services. Cooperatives gain access to additional capital by borrowing from financial institutions as a group, and then on-lending the funds to individuals, collateral-free.

In addition to pioneering the Village Banking model and utilizing it at the core of operations, FINCA has many other accomplishments to its record that have aided the microfinance industry. The institution helped organize the inaugural Global Microcredit Summit (GMS) in 1997 which gathered over 2,000 microfinance professionals from around the world and in 2003 was one of the first to enter the Afghanistan market after the Taliban’s fall. In 2007, FINCA launched the Village Banking Campaign, which directly supports the United Nations’ (UN) Millennium Development Goals and aims to eliminate severe poverty around the globe by 2015. Two of the campaign’s biggest supporters—both officially co-chairs—include Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, and Golden Globe Award-winnng actress, Natalie Portman, a native of Jerusalem, Israel.

FINCA reached the 500,000 client mark in February 2007, has a loan portfolio of USD 166 million, and funds its operations through a mix of earned income, public grants, and donations. On the FINCA web site, the institution states that donations are important to the business model in order to maintain ownership in all the country programs. FINCA values investments from other sources, but by leveraging the additional commercial capital gained through donations, FINCA retains the ability to steer the network with a social benefit emphasis, as has been its signature since its creation.

FINCA’s work over the past 23 years has earned it numerous awards. Several recent citations include an “A minus” rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP), Worth’s Magazine’s inclusion of FINCA in its Top 100 Charities in the United States, and a “4 star” rating from Charity Navigator “for [FINCA’s] ability to efficiently manage and grow its finances.”

To truly understand FINCA, a key player on the global microfinance stage claiming to be a “banker with soul” and whose customer borrower base is 70 percent women, one must first appreciate its retired leader and founder, Dr. John Keith Hatch. A 2006 retiree after 22 years of service to FINCA and a self-stated social entrepreneur, Dr. Hatch remains a member of the Board of Directors, in the positions of Secretary and Historian, and travels often to speak and fund-raise on behalf of the organization. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a BA in History, and earned both an MA in Economic History and a PhD in Economic Development from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Dr. Hatch served in Colombia and Peru through the Peace Corps, worked along subsistence farmers through a Fulbright research grant—also in Peru, and first developed the Village Banking Model in 1984 while working for the consulting firm, Rural Development Services (RDS). A co-founder of the Alliance of Students Against Poverty (ASAP) in 2004, Hatch also participated in the 2006 GMS on the Council of Practitioners and currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. MicroCapital recently published a “Who’s Who in Microfinance” about Dr. Hatch here.

Robert W. Hatch, brother of John and co-founder of FINCA, resides in Kansas City, Missouri and serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Hatch is also the CEO, founder, and a sitting board member of three other companies he founded: Cereal Ingredients, Inc., CII Laboratory Services, and Maverick Converting. He previously served as Chairman, CEO, and President of Interstate Bakeries Corporation and spent 22 years with General Mills, Inc. attaining the position of Executive Vice President. Mr. Hatch has both a BA and an MBA from Dartmouth College.

FINCA’s International Executive Director, Rupert Scofield, resides in Washington, DC and also serves as the Assistant Secretary on FINCA’s Board of Directors. An agricultural economist by trade with 30 years of experience, he helped to found FINCA and has also served as the CEO of RDS and as Country Program Director for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations’ (AFL-CIO) labor program in El Salvador. Mr. Scofield served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala, graduated from Brown University with a BA, and earned two Master’s of Arts degrees in Public Administration and Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin.

Dr. Carlos Camacho, Sr. is the Director of FINCA Ecuador and a member of the FINCA International Board of Directors. Dr. Camacho was Executive Director of FINCA Ecuador from 1998 through July 2002 and has previously worked at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, the Inter American Development Bank and was the General Manager at the Banco de Fomento Agrícola del Ecuador. Dr. Camacho received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in Agricultural Economics and Public Policy and has taught at the Universidad Central and the Universidad Católica de Quito.

Her Excellency, The High Commissioner of Malawi to South Africa, Agrina Mussa, is also the Director of FINCA Malawi, a member of the FINCA International Board of Directors, and the Managing Director of Classic Design Limited, a hosiery manufacturing company. Ms. Mussa recently received her Master’s in Strategic Management from the University of Derby through online courses and has earned a variety of other degrees and certificates in the past. She is currently an appointed member of Malawi’s Technical Committee on Development of Trade and Industrial Policy and was recently Chair of Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), the country’s major electricity supplier. Ms. Mussa has previously served as Commissioner of the Privatization Commission of Malawi, the first Vice-Chair of the National Association of Business Women, and on the board of the Enumerical Church Loan Fund in Malawi.

James Semakkadde, the Director of FINCA Uganda, sits on the FINCA International Board of Directors, and has also served as the Chairman of the Uganda Red Cross (Jinja Branch) and on the board of the Uganda National Farmer’s Association. After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Commerce from the University of Delhi in India, Mr. Semakkadde worked as an accountant for the African Evangelistic Enterprise in Kenya and later established the vocational training center, Nile Vocational Institute. He has ten years of consulting experience for firms such as the Uganda Airlines Corporation, Statewide Insurance Company, and the Tanzania Gatsby Trust and he has lectured at the National University of Rwanda. Currently, he lectures at Makerer University on topics including management and marketing in small-scale enterprises, business environment, and marketing management.

The Deputy Director for FINCA, Andrée Simon, manages planning and strategy and provides support to the Executive through special projects and the management of organizational priorities. Prior to joining FINCA in 2001, Ms. Simon worked for Marakon Associates in London, a management-consulting firm helping a variety of clients, including microfinance institutions (MFIs), create shareholder value. She holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Economics and Japanese from John Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of Virginia.

Gwen Andreotti is the Administrative Director for FINCA corporate headquarters and the Director of Human and Business Resources providing assistance for the global FINCA network of affiliate programs in the legal and human resources areas. She sits on the boards/executive committees for FINCA’s subsidiaries in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia, Haiti, and Honduras as well as on the corporate executive management team. Prior to joining FINCA she worked in the finance department for Air Canada. She is the recipient of a Management degree from McGill University in Montreal, and attended graduate school at the University of Maryland earning an MS in Administration and an MBA. She also has a certificate in Commercial Banking from the Stonier Graduate Program. Ms. Andreotti is fluent in French and conversant in Spanish.

A native of Peru, FINCA’s International Director of New Business Development Services, Soledad Gompf, leads the development of new country programs and new product offerings. Ms. Gompf has 21 years of experience in various business function areas and has worked for both for-profit and non-profit organizations in the US and Peru. She holds a law degree from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and has had extensive professional training in fundraising and management.

Jiten Patel is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) providing leadership for the information technology (IT) and communications services of the entire FINCA network. He has previously served as CIO for both Popular Financial Holdings as well as for H&R Block Financial Advisors (HRBFA). Mr. Patel has a Mathematics degree from the University of Liverpool in the UK.

Much of the biographical information for this piece can be found at FINCA’s Web site under “Board of Directors” and “Management.”

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Alliance of Students Against Poverty: Home

American Institute of Philanthropy: Home, Top-Rated Charities

Charity Navigator: Home

FINCA: Home, History, Country Programs, Annual Report, Afghanistan, Village Banking Campaign, HM Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, Natalie Portman, Business Model, Worth Magazine, Charity Navigator, Board of Directors, Management