Accion Emprendedora, please meet Anne and Ian. (Into Spanish: An y y An. Back to English: Anne and and Anne)

For those of you who don’t know I worked in/conducted research in/yadda yadda yadda in the Dominican Republic last summer. I partnered with a microfinance organization called Esperanza International. My main duties entailed posting Kiva profiles and doing interviews to learn about/make recommendations for the training programs that Esperanza offers its loan recipients (for more information, chat me up or read earlier blog posts).

After being admitted to the Stanford Santiago program, we learned that we could potentially do an internship during the study abroad. As I grow older, I realize I am more and more like my dad: I lose my keys, I sometimes wear sandals and socks, and I like to keep my options open. Wanting to keep my options open, but not really desiring an internship, I uploaded a copy of my resume just in cases (yes, case is plural on purpose). I then received information about Accion Emprenadora. They’re a non-profit MFI. I figured it would be great to have a comparative microfinance experience, so I applied. I was accepted and as I corresponded with Accion and Stanford students who had interned in the past, it became clear that Accion is not so much a micro lending organization (though they’re trying to develop that aspect) as they are a micro business-training organization, which is exactly what I focused on while in the DR. Too perfect.

Today, after a much needed sleep-in, Lauren and I grabbed lunch and then I jetted off to Accion for orientation. ¬¬¬I met up with Ian who is another Stanford student who will be interning with Accion. Apparently, he was way more motivated/on his stuff because he began talking with Accion in the fall. Despite both being juniors, both being econ majors, both having taken some of the same classes, and both having lived in FloMo this year, Ian and I were completely oblivious of the other’s existence until about two days ago. This is particularly strange because he’s at least 6’7’’ and, well, hard to miss. I thought I’d be the only one interning, but I am glad I was wrong. While introducing ourselves, the office found it hilarious that we were Anne y Ian.

Accion’s mission is to break Chile’s cycle of poverty through helping people start businesses or improving current ones. Their current model is a three-phase one: 1. Business owners take several weeks of classes in whatever business training they want and Accion offers 2. Business owners partner with tutors/consultants with whom they meet once a week for four months 3. Accion helps these businesses secure funding. It’s impressive because most businesses owners believe that working with Accion has helped them improve their productivity, the majority have seen increased income, and about 30% have hired additional employees (the last data point is most impressive to me).

I’m now especially excited to work with Accion because

1. Studying abroad with thirty-two Stanford students is very different than working more or less alone whilst abroad. We roam in large packs and I was having a difficult time foreseeing opportunities to connect with Chileans in an even close-to-similar way. Working with Accion will foster those possibilities and will also help me not feel like I’m part of a herd of cattle.

2. I had forgotten that I really, really love and care about these kinds of initiatives and that I really, really love and enjoy working with smart, hardworking people who also care about these initiatives.

3. I’ll get to design and work on a project that will be personally and meaningful and genuinely beneficial to Accion. We’re going to meet again on Monday to determine what that will look like.


I’m guessing my internship with Accion will be way more important to me than I had initially thought it would be. I had gone into it fairly flippantly but am now eager to more fully dedicate myself to this project. I like projects; I like ‘em a lot.