WSEP has created a spirit of partnership and cooperation among its clients, the women who own these small businesses and encourage and push each other, each to do her best. WSEP also operates in partnership with prominent local banks, such as we've just heard from the Harris Bank. Through such partnerships, WSEP links some of the major banking organizations of this great metropolitan area with the individual women who, despite remarkably few resources, struggle every day to maintain hope and to succeed. Fortunately, WSEP is not alone in its recognition that more can be done by building community than by people working apart. These partnerships combine the strengths of banks with the skills of microenterprise organizations.
Banks are pros at raising capital in the marketplace, local and national.
Many banks provide the micro-lenders with indirect access to technology that drives down costs of processing and monitoring loan repayments. Daily modem or fax transmissions enable the micro-lenders to carry out very good management practice at very low cost. Banks also allow their employees to serve on micro-lenders' boards, or on their loan committees. Particularly after these bankers have learned the micro-lending methodologies, they provide valuable support in overseeing the organization's management, or in reviewing their larger loans. The micro-lenders are able to reach well into poor and disadvantaged communities to identify good prospective clients that banks don't yet serve.