Accounting and Program Audit Team
Log # 9
By Sylvia Sam-Mensah
In preparation for the final presentations, my team and I have
been working to bring together everything we have worked on
throughout this semester. With everything starting to fall into
place, we are excited to present to Tobin Faculty and Staff and all
GLOBE supporters. I would like to share some of the things that we
will be touching in our final presentations.
According to our objectives, we met with the Anne Marie
Schettini-Lynch Assistant Vice President and Associate Treasurer
and Christine Torres from Tobin to learn about the current
accounting structure at the beginning of the semester. Based on the
figures we received, we developed a formal and standardized system
of accounting for all cash receipts and expenditures using Google
Docs. Subsequently, we updated the account throughout the semester
with all activities from this semester. We chose to use Google Docs
because all documents are saved on the sky drive and may be edited
from this central location to avoid having duplicate copies of the
same documents. We have also scheduled a meeting at the end of this
semester to reconcile balances with Ann Marie to reconcile any
differences.
We were also handed the Business Lexicon project, which is supposed
to educate the reader on basic financial terms to equip them to
better understand these in dealing with our program or any other
MFI. Since our field agents, the Daughters of Charity are
responsible for explaining the program, loan application process
and the terms and conditions of our loans, we believe that starting
this financial literacy education with them will go a long way to
lessen their burden and benefit our program in the long run. We are
currently working on further simplifying the terms for the
borrower’s to easily understand since they have no pre-exposure to
financial literacy education.
Working closely with the Finance Team, we have been working at
designing an Outstanding Loan Tracking System for the loans that
are out in field. This is a source of major concern to us because
the loans terms are almost due and with communication challenges;
it is difficult to find out in real time, what is going on in the
field. This form will serve as a confirmation from the field to
reconcile our records with information like the date the borrower
received the funds (which determines when repayment begins) and the
suggested and actual monthly payments.
Our team is also working on developing a GLOBE Budgeting System,
which seeks to be able to give the stated amount which is indeed,
only 5% of funds donated to GLOBE is used for administrative
expenses. Since our semester is rounding up, this may not be fully
implemented in our class but we hope to pass it along to the next
GLOBE generation. We have designed a Budget request form for this
purpose, which we hope they will be able to check spending and
ensure that where possible, all funds used are bringing in as much
direct generated revenue as possible.
I look forward to discussing progress on these tasks and the rest
of my team’s tasks in the next log.
Finance and Risk Assessment Team
Log # 9
By Raias Anthony Khan
This past week’s bake sale was another great success for GLOBE.
I am glad that I was able to participate and bake goods for the
sale. I talked to an on campus Chartwells barista supervisor over
the past week about the university donating goods to an
organization on campus for future bake sales. I think this is a
great way to utilize “day old” baked goods in the university
community. I will talk to the marketing team this week about
looking into this more seriously.
We also received the Vietnam Loans and are undergoing a detailed
review on them. We feel that the new group loan is an exciting and
new opportunity for GLOBE to make a larger impact in the
communities we serve. It will also create a viable collateral model
to minimize GLOBE’s risk exposure.
I am confident that with GLOBE’s entrance into Vietnam this
semester, we will begin a larger and grander mission in Southeast
Asia. The finance and risk assessment team so far is extremely
excited to start working on the final presentation, social business
plan and Vietnam loan proposals.
Over the break I look forward to analyzing the new Vietnam loans
and creating a detailed and precise recommendation for the steering
committee.
Marketing and Fundraising Team
Log # 9
By Nicole Musco
Someone once said to me "to the world you may only be one
person, but to one person you may be the world”. This quote has a
variety of intrinsic value. But it applies to what we do here in
GLOBE. Compared to the world we are only one organization, but to
the people who we support, we are the world to them. And without
us, their lives would be much more difficult. I feel that sometimes
in the hustle and bustle of GLOBE we can lose sight on exactly what
we are doing and what we are all here for. I know the stress of the
semester is difficult on all Managers and the Marketing team feels
it as well, but it is important to remember our purpose.
Thanksgiving is this week, and I feel as if I have learned so much
in such a short time. So much about Microfinance, myself, my peers,
and St. John's as a whole it’s truly incredible!
Tonight's lecture as per usual fashion was able to give me some
insight to something I was familiar with but not too educated
about, Microfinance in developed countries. As a class we
specifically spend a lot of the time focusing on the under
developed economies of the world so it was interesting to see what
Microfinance does from a developed economic standpoint.
Dr. Sama
showed us an ABC interview about KIVA; a Microloan program here in
the United States and it was really interesting to note that this
was the benchmark model for GLOBE. Kiva is a website that allows
borrowers have a profile which includes an uploaded picture,
information about how much money they need and about their
business. Lenders are then able to review profiles and decide if
they want to lend money to the borrower. The website hosts the
borrower profiles, processes the incoming loans, and distributes
repayment. I was fairly unaware of a program such as KIVA and found
the video extremely educational.
We spent some time brainstorming
why GLOBE chose the under developed countries, and with all factors
included it is clear why, the money goes further, it helps to
stimulate the economy, and the loan requests are much smaller in
amount.
We truly do a great service to those that we help and do
really impact their lives in positive ways. We need to remember
that all our time makes the entire struggle worthwhile.
Technology and Communications Team
Log # 9
By Bao Nguyen
I never realized that time does fly really fast until I found out
we only have two classes left and Thanksgiving is in two days.
Indeed, this semester is going to the end and it is the time for
our team to get all of our tasks done. So far, our Technology and
Communications team has practically collaborated with the Marketing
Team in most of the events held by GLOBE. Regarding our teamwork,
we are working hard to get the V-Log and the business plan done as
we prepare for our final presentation.
Taking a look back, I realized that I have learned so many things
from GLOBE. It’s amazing to learn about microfinance and I believe
that it is going to be very useful for my future career. I will
always remember the video of the applicants, the events we did, and
all the class lectures we have had. I feel really motivated because
of all the amazing things we have done as a class. GLOBE has made a
major impact on my life.
Last week, all members of our class went to the GLOBE event and we
did a really good job. Nakita had a really good presentation and
our team did take a lot of good pictures and videos.
For now, we are done with editing the V-Log of the Marketing Team.
It looks really interesting. Besides the V-Log that we will upload
to YouTube in order to promote GLOBE, we plan to show to our class
a really funny and exciting “Behind the Scenes” video.