Event time:
Monday, April 9, 2018 - 5:30pm
Event description:
Janie Barrera, Founding President and CEO of LiftFund, the nation’s largest nonprofit small business microlender, will give a talk on April 9 at 5:30 pm in Niebuhr Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Her talk will cover her leadership of LiftFund and make the case for community development/small business finance and economic empowerment, especially for people on the margins so that they can support themselves and their families, prosper, and contribute to society. It will also include reflections on how her religious background has impacted her work.
Janie Barrera is founding president and CEO of LiftFund, the largest nonprofit micro- and small-business lender in the United States. The organization provides loans and management training to enterprises, from startups to long established businesses and operates in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Since its inception in 1994, LiftFund has disbursed more than 18,000 loans totaling more than $222 million – with an impressive 94 percent repayment rate.
Barrera has received nationwide recognition for her accomplishments, including the Small Business Administration Financial Services Advocate of the Year and the Minority Enterprise Development Consortium’s Corporate Advocate of the Year. President Barack Obama appointed Ms. Barrera to the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability and she also was named to the board of directors for the Federal Reserve of Dallas’ San Antonio Branch. In 2015, she was named to San Antonio Business Hall of Fame.