The Gates Foundation on Microsavings

Featuring Jake Kendall,

Head of the Financial Services for the Poor Initiative (FSP)

In late 2010, Melinda Gates announced that the Foundation would invest $500 million in innovation, marketing, and evaluation of new savings products that are economical for both the product providers and the poor.  To date, the Financial Services for the Poor initiative (FSP) has made 88 grants.  FSP has become the Gates Foundation's flagship microfinance program, and has garnered much respect in the industry. 

What has the Foundation been able to accomplish over the past year? Why microsavings? How did they decide where to invest? How are they tracking progress, measuring success, and evaluating impact? Is their strategy working and how do they plan to increase their impact in the coming years?

Join SVMN on Monday, February 27th as Victoria Barret (Forbes Magazine) interviews Jake Kendall (Gates Foundation) on the past and future investment strategy of the Gates Foundation.

   Please bring your questions and join us Monday, February 27 at 6:00pm for what will surely be an exciting conversation!

Event Agenda
6:00 - 6:15pm Networking
6:15 - 6:55pm Speaker Presentation
6:55 - 7:15pm Audience Q&A
7:15 - 8:00pm Reception (beverages and appetizers will be provided)

Speaker Bios

Victoria Barret (Moderator)

Victoria Barret is an Associate Editor for Forbes, covering technology out of the Silicon Valley bureau. She writes about software and technology topics. Her coverage includes recent cover stories on Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Her profile on online diamond retailer Blue Nile was a finalist in the feature category of The 2005 Business Journalist of the Year Awards.

She joined the magazine as a Reporter in June 2000, and was named to her current position in December 2005. She appears weekly on the business show, Forbes on Fox, which airs on the Fox News channel. Show topics focus on the economy and stock market. She has also appeared as a guest on The O'Reilly Factor and Your World with Neil Cavuto.

Prior to joining Forbes, Victoria was a freelancer at BusinessWeek, and she also worked as an intern at Time magazine in Paris and as a Reporter for the San Diego Newspaper Group. Mrs. Barret has a BA in International Relations and Economics from Wellesley College.

Jake Kendall

Jake heads the research strategy of FSP including managing FSP’s major research grants and engaging with the academic community. Previous to joining the Foundation, he spent time as an Economist with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) housed in the World Bank.

Jake holds a PhD in Economics from UC Santa Cruz and a BS in Physics from MIT. Just after graduating from MIT he volunteered for two years in Zambia as a fisheries extension agent with the US Peace Corps. Jake has also worked as a Brand Analyst for a major advertising firm, a technical salesperson for two high tech start-ups, and a salmon fisherman in Alaska.

This event takes place in space provided by O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Thank you!

SVMN is a housed at Opportunity Fund, California's largest non-profit microfinance instiution providing microloans and microsavings since 1998.