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Microfinance specialist with focus on progressive housing. Over 30 years international experience in low income housing finance, microfinance/ microenterprise development, project design, implementation and evaluation, credit unions, financial analysis. Fluent in Spanish. Looking for short term consulting or long term position.

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PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

  • MY OBJECTIVES

    • Job opportunities
    • Consulting assignments
    • Professional networking

  • EDUCATION

    • International Management-Finance, Master's Degree, Thunderbird School of Global Management , United States , September 1970 - August 1971
    • Anthropology, Master's Degree, Pennsylvania State University , United States , September 1967 - December 1973

  • PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

    • Society for International Development

Experience Summary

  • Skills, Background, and Experience

      My expertise includes housing microfinance (low-income/progressive housing), microfinance, microenterprise development, project management and evaluation, and organizational management. I have MA in international management and MA in cultural anthropology. I am fluent in Spanish. I am a US citizen.

  • Areas of Expertise :

      Anthropology/Sociology, Banking & Finance, Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Institutional Development, Legal/Policy Reform, Micro & Small Enterprise, Private Sector Development, Project Management, Training, Anthropology/Sociology - Other, Business/NGO Consulting, Cooperatives, Curriculum Development, Grant Management/Matching, Institutional Development - Other, Micro & Small Enterprise - Other, Micro-Finance/Micro-Credit, On-Site Training, Performance Measurement/Monitoring/Evalu, Policy/Legal Reform - Other, Project Design, Project Management - Other, Recruiting, Regulatory Reform, Regulatory Reform - Financial, Senior Management, Central Africa, East Asia & Pacific, Eastern Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America & Caribbean, North America, South Asia, West Africa, Belize, Bolivia, Cameroon, Colombia, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, United States

  • Responsibilities :

    • Write proposals/grant requests
    • Provide technical advice on projects
    • Manage projects in the field
    • Run a company, NGO, or a major department

  • Opportunities I Might Consider :

    • Field assignment
    • Full-time staff position
    • Long-term consulting assignment
    • Short-term consulting assignment

Employment Summary

  • April 2010 - Present Housing Microfinance Specialist, Not Specified

  • August 2009 - September 2009 Housing Microfinance Specialist, World Bank
    In Tanzania provided inputs into the housing microfinance component of the Project Appraisal Document (PAD) of the Housing Finance Project. This consisted of a description of the component, preparation of a detailed budget, and preparation of the terms of reference for a subsequent detailed marketing study.
  • October 2008 - November 2008 Senior Housing Microfinance Expert, ShoreBank International
    Conducted a feasibility study of housing microfinance in the East Africa region (Tanzania, with supporting role for Uganda) focused on: Market Assessment (analysis of the demand and supply side of housing finance markets), proposed financing mechanisms and technical assistance for recommended partner institutions. The study was done under contract to Strømme Foundation (Norway) Microfinance East Africa Limited (SMF EA Ltd).
  • June 2007 - September 2008 Team Leader, Mortgage SOFOLes Project, ShoreBank International
    In Mexico under an IFC (World Bank Group) institutional contract, supervised the program implementation of technical assistance in mortgage lending best practices to four non-bank regulated financial institutions (SOFOLes) and one bank. The objective of this project was to enhance the operational capacities (marketing, origination, administration and collections) at second-tier SOFOLes in accordance with international best practices. The aim was to help these institutions grow their portfolios while keeping low levels of nonperforming loans so that they may ultimately access additional sources of funding on the growing Mexican secondary mortgage market. Acted as liaison between the IFC project team, the financial institutions, SBI’s other advisers and the head office in all aspects of institution building and lending. Supervised and participated in:  Diagnostics of the five institutions to analyze/ measure their conformity with best practices in lending, both individual mortgages and construction lending;  Development and adaptation of two toolkits (individual mortgages and construction lending) as guides to best practices;  Seminars and workshops to address the gaps in best practices identified in the diagnostics.
  • January 2004 - November 2005 Peru Country Director, CHF International, Silver Spring, MD
    In Peru led a ten member team through the implementation of a progressive housing microfinance program for low income families without access to formal bank financing. Designed additional programs to provide training and credit to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the construction sector and to home-based existing and new MSEs. Accomplishments: - Managed/oversaw the disbursement of 770 loans totaling $850K to low income families with a low “portfolio at risk” of 3.5%. - Raised additional loan capital and training funding of $930K through a series of contacts, building relationships and/or competition. - Developed a unified and compatible team of Peruvian staff who participated in all major decisions

Supporting Documents

Relevant Links

Mahlon Barash
Peru

Career Account since
03-Mar-2002

  • Upcoming assignment

    No information

  • Employment status

    Not employed
  • Available Anytime

  • Career Level

    Senior-level

  • Citizenships and Permanent Residences

    • United States

  • Total Years of Experience

    37 years

  • Languages

    • English
    • Spanish
    • Invite to my network