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Micro Enterprise Is Big at CGI America

The Clinton Global Initiative held its first America conference in Chicago this week. President Clinton explained the purpose of the gathering, “CGI America will bring together leaders from business, nonprofits, and government to develop new ideas for generating jobs now in the U.S.”

Guess who was there?  CAMEO members and friends, including:

  • *Opportunity Fund
  • *AEO
  • *Simonida Cvejic (CAMEO honored her with the first Face of Entrepreneurship Award during our annual meeting)
  • *SF Made
  • *Kiva

In other words, Micro got macro attention.

Former president Bill Clinton and Kiva launched Kiva City, a small-business lending strategy to fight poverty in some of the hardest hit cities in the U.S., like Detroit, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh.

Simonida, CEO of Bay Area Medical Academy, shared how she combined her entrepreneurial drive (listen in at 59:00) and leveraged Opportunity Fund microloan investments to create jobs and train hundreds of people each year for careers in the medical field.

Connie Evans, CEO of AEO, was the voice of Micro Entreprenurship.  We’ll know more of what she talked about next week.

Kate Sofis, SF Made, announced the formation of a national network of regional manufacturing efforts across major US cities called Urban Manufacturing Alliance that will begin with San Francisco and New York City. The effort is an innovative new model for local economic development and job creation.

Photo credit: Adam Schultz / Clinton Global Initiative CGI America Opening Plenary: President Bill Clinton, Founding Chairman, Clinton Global Initiative, 42nd President of the United States; Haley Barbour, Governor, State of Mississippi; Simonida Cvejic, Founder and CEO, Bay Area Medical Academy