Contact Wokai Hong Kong for event and ticket information.
Friday, November 20, 2009 from 7:30 PM - 11:55 PM (GMT+0800)
You are cordially invited to
Wokai Hong Kong Launch Gala, 20 November 2009
Wokai (www.wokai.org), China's first web-based microfinance non-profit, is formally launching its Hong Kong Chapter. We would like to invite you to be a part of the festivities - to learn more about Wokai and microfinance in China through our panel speakers, to meet the Wokai Hong Kong team, and to enjoy an evening of delicious food, good company and music / dance in the outdoor patio.
Event highlights include:
PANEL DISCUSSION
Passionate about microfinance? Want to learn more about Wokai and microfinance in China? We have an exciting panel lined up for you including:
Co-Founder and CEO of Wokai: Casey Wilson
CEO Asia Region of Grameen Foundation: Jennifer Meehan
DINNER AND DRINKS
Spend time enjoying a delicious dinner over wine with friends and the Wokai Hong Kong team. Talk to us one on one to learn more about Wokai and how you can be involved. Connect with old friends or meet new ones before or after the dinner and panel speaking event. Dinner will include:
A Delicious Four Course Dinner by SML
OUTDOOR MUSIC, LOUNGING AND DANCING
We will have SML's large outdoor rooftop patio open with music, lounge chairs and dance floor till midnight
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Proceeds from your ticket purchase will go directly to creating an online Wokai profile and donating to a microfinance loan. We will have a team at SML that night to finalize your profile and help you choose a microfinance entrepreneur to donate to.
**You can make a difference - on the spot!**
Dress code will be smart casual, with a turnout of 200 people. Pay online to confirm your seat today, and we look forward to seeing you on November 20th!
If you have any questions or comments, feel
free to reach out to George Zeng (george.x.zeng@gmail.com) or Daniela
Che (daniela.che@gmail.com). Note due to FX translation issues and fees, the tickets are currently being processed at slightly below 750HKD / ticket at 95USD/ticket. Please let us know if you have any questions.
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Extended Speaker Bios
Co-Founder and CEO of Wokai: Casey Wilson
Casey
serves on Wokai's Board of Directors and leads Wokai's business
strategy and development, Field Partner due-diligence evaluation, and
public outreach. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University
with a BA in Economics. While at Wesleyan, Casey focused on economic
development and its applications in the Chinese context. After
graduation, Casey completed a course of study at Tsinghua University
and the University of California at Berkeley's Inter-University Program
(IUP) for advanced Chinese. Prior to studying at Tsinghua, Casey spent
two summers studying Chinese at the Middlebury College Intensive
Chinese School in Vermont.
CEO Asia Region of Grameen Foundation: Jennifer Meehan
Jennifer
Meehan joined Grameen Foundation in February 2005 as the founding
Director of the Capital Markets Group. She subsequently led Grameen
Foundation’s strategic planning process before taking on her current
role in January 2009. She started her career in the formal financial
sector with Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan Chase), but made the
transition to microfinance following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
Prior to joining Grameen Foundation, she worked extensively with
poverty-focused MFIs throughout Asia including CASHPOR, the Asian
network of Grameen Bank Replicators, on financial management, business
planning and financing. She has also consulted for Calvert Social
Investment Foundation, among others, and published a number of
articles. She was a founding investor and, until October 2007, served
on the Investment Committee of the Aavishkaar India Micro Venture
Capital Fund.
Wokai (我开 - “I start” in Mandarin) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2007 dedicated to helping individuals in rural China lift themselves out of poverty through microloans. Wokai introduces the first ever person-to-person online model that connects individual contributors around the world directly with individual farmers and microentrepreneurs in rural China in need of small loans. At Wokai, we believe that building a worldwide community of small givers can have an incredible impact on increasing opportunities for the poor.
Since launching our website in November 2008, Wokai has already raised over US$100,000 in loan capital and empowered over 200 borrowers in China to start small businesses. We have launched two pilot programs in Inner Mongolia and rural Sichuan and received tremendous media success with features in Time.com, Newsweek, MSNBC, CNBC, the Associated Press, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Over the next two years Wokai will be connecting over 30,000 contributors around the world to roughly 3,000 borrowers in rural China. Ultimately, Wokai aims to become the primary online resource for a growing number of contributors to help China’s over 300 million impoverished lift themselves and their communities out of poverty.
Recent Wokai Press Coverage:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-10/27/content_8853429.htm
http://news.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/nw/show.cgi/9/1/1/1310375/1.html
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