The mission of Green Microfinance™ (GMf™) is to advocate the use of sustainable energy by microenterprises and microfinance institutions, which contributes to global sustainable economic development and reduces the impacts of climate change on the poorest of the poor.
Green Microfinance:
- Promotes the use and distribution of renewable energy technologies, which helps reduce global warming, providing the poor with cleaner air and ultimately better health.
- Supports microfinance institutions (MFIs) to build their environmental management capacity and to assist them in developing products for environmental lending in the informal sector of developing countries.
- Assists microfinance institutions in developing products for environmental lending in the informal sector of developing countries.
Speaker Profile
Kathleen Robbins has an engineering science degree from the United States Air Force Academy, Kathleen returned to graduate school and earned an MBA to round out her education. Upon completing the MBA program, Kathleen joined Procter & Gamble, and subsequently moved into high technology and held successful positions with computer manufacturer Wang Laboratories, consulting with Computer Sciences Corporation and executive leadership with Cellular One.
Upon completing her Doctor of Ministry in 2003, she created an international organization based on her work in her doctoral dissertation. Her dissertation, The 4th Communications Revolution: Bringing a Voice to the Developing World forms the theoretical basis for this program. It envisions using technology to aid or create micro enterprises in developing countries that provide a sustainable source of income in the rural areas to the entrepreneur while providing cost effective access to modern information communications technology to her neighbors and friends and a profitable customer to the technology provider.
Kathleen oversees Green Microfinance Clean Energy Programs. She is now working on a biofuels program in Haiti which involves addressing environmental and rural economic issues in addition to energy availability. The program uses a non-edible plant native to Haiti that grows on land that has been deforested and upon which food corps will not grow. It is designed to ensure the small farmer is a major beneficiary in the biofuels revolution.
JatrophaWorld 2008 Miami Speaker
Day 2 – Wednesday, June 11
10:00 BIODIESEL AND COMMUNMITY DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL HAITI
Overview of Presentation
It will explore the efforts of the Jatropha Pepinye (Nursery) to introduce the commercial possibilities of Jatropha curcas to the community of Terrier Rouge, Haiti and using microfinance to develop small businesses to use the pure plant oil. This will include testing alternative methods to sustain subsistence farmers until their jatropha field reaches commercial production levels.
JatrophaWorld 2008 is a showcase of all the latest trends and shifts occurring in the Jatropha value chain, bringing together on a single platform, the best expertise to discuss and analyze the present and future dynamics of Jatropha from a technological and socio-economic angle. To find more about JatrophaWorld in Miami from June 9 to 11, 2008, please visit http://www.futureenergyevents.com/jatropha/.
