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"I use Dvelo.org because I believe that a small group of committed individuals can change the world."

-Paul Needham, 42, Vancouver, Canada

The Team

We continue to have some of the brightest minds in microfinance and development help us along the way, but here is the core team behind Dvelo.org (based out of Cape Town, South Africa).

James Beshara

 »co-founder; director (james@dvelo.org)

A graduate of Wake Forest University (Class of '08), James spent the last two years working in microfinance in South Africa. Along with Dr. Sylvain Boko, the head of the Development Economics Department at Wake Forest University, he also founded The Dvelo Fund, a non-profit that gives grant funding to undergraduates wishing to study developmental issues in developing regions of the world (DVELO is an acronym for Development via Education, Lending, and Opportunity). He is also a co-founder of The MiFi Report, the world's most read microfinance news site. He studied Economics and International Development and Policy at Wake Forest University.

A native of Dallas, Texas, James has worked extensively on the ground with microfinance institutions in Managua, Nicaragua and Cape Town, South Africa. He also has firsthand experience with microfinance and poverty alleviation efforts in Kigali, Rwanda, Kampala, Uganda, and the Dominican Republic. James was hit with the concept for Dvelo.org while studying throughout Africa on a research grant from Wake Forest University and the Atlantic Coast Conference in the Summer of 2007. He has spoken at over two dozen universities on the topics of technology, poverty alleviation, and microfinance since launching Dvelo.org, and in 2009, he was invited to speak at the World Bank to discuss technology's role in poverty alleviation.

Inspiration: My mother and father, my sister, and my three older brothers

Interests: My faith, a little fly fishing brand called Develo Flies, movies, friends, and Texas barbecue

Favorite thing I own: An early Dvelo.org business plan signed by the founder of microfinance and Nobel Laureate, Dr. Muhammad Yunus

Drew McWay

 »co-founder (drew@dvelo.org)

A recent graduate of Washington and Lee University (Class of '08), Drew has spent the last year immersed in microfinance on the ground, co-directing Sinergia, a microfinance institution outside Trujillo, Peru (doubling the portfolio in under 10 months). Drew also brings training from the Chalmers Center of Economic Development and experience from a number of ground visits to microfinance institutions in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and South Africa.

Also a native of Dallas, Texas, Drew and James grew up together and have been friends since they were young. Their mutual passion for microfinance and poverty alleviation, and their exposure to the practice at opposite ends of the world led them to establish Dvelo.org.

Favorite Quote: “Some ships are made wood, some ships are made of steel, but the best ships are friendships.”.. That never gets old.

Mac or PC: Haha...

Biggest challenge for Dvelo: We're in this business because we want to help people and make a living doing it (how awesome does that sound, right?), but intention is not enough. Our biggest challenge is converting good intention into real, measurable, sustainable change, and this means we definitely have our work cut out for us.

Peter Sserwanga

 »senior software developer (peter@dvelo.org)

Peter brings several years of complex software and database programming to Dvelo.org. He specializes in automated back-end PHP coding, and he has designed most of Dvelo.org's automated system. He hails from Kenya and is often buried under his loud headphones in the office, typing away in a written language that makes most people go cross-eyed. He is extremely passionate about the potential for microfinance both back in his home country and across the globe.

Favorite Quote: "Be the change you want to see in the world." - Gandhi

Dvelo.org or Facebook: Well, I love facebook, but as far as a website's importance and potential goes... it's hard to beat Dvelo.org.

Advice for James and Drew: Don't ever let the corporate world infect Dvelo.org, ever.

Boris Lugerero

 »admin/outreach (boris@dvelo.org)

Boris joined Dvelo.org in June 2009, and if he keeps up at the pace he's been going, he'll be running the thing in a year. Boris has lived all across the continent of Africa (Cote D'Ivoire, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa), and he's seen, firsthand, how many communities still need access to credit.

My favorite thing about Dvelo: There is a really strong energy in the office. How inspired everyone is, that's gotta be the thing I love most.

Preferred language: My native language is French, but no one in the office speaks it, so.. c'est la vie.

Do you have a killer crossover in basketball: Yes.

Clark Thompson

 »marketing/pr (clark@dvelo.org)

Clark has worked on the ground with poverty alleviation and charitable organizations in both Zambia and South Africa. His encounters with extreme poverty have inspired him to champion sustainable poverty relief efforts worldwide. In 2008, he worked at the South African-based microfinance organization, The Kuyasa Fund, alongside James. The childhood friends shared a tiny office, a desk, an apartment, and a passion to make a sustainable difference in the world. (They both also acquired African tick-bite fever while working in South Africa.)

Favorite Quote: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow-lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Words of wisdom: Never. Ever. Get African tick-bite fever. Ever.

The thing you like most about Dvelo.org: The value model. Everybody wins.

Sylvain Boko, Wake Forest Univ., Ph.D.

 »portfolio & outreach advisor

Sylvain Boko is a world renowned development economic advisor. In his career he has worked for Catholic Relief Services, the World Bank, and has held several honor appointments; the Zachary T. Smith Professorship, Kulynych Family Omicron Delta Kappa Award, Teaching Excellence Award, the Earl O. Heady Fellowship Award for Superior Scholastic Performance in Agricultural Economics, and the Presidential Medal of Honor (Government of Benin). He is still a government and organizational development consultant and continues to structure policy recommendations to several nations in Africa. Sylvain and James have travelled through Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, and Nicaragua together conducting economic research and consulting with microfinance institutions on the ground, and it was during a casual conversation between the two in Kampala, Uganda that the idea for Dvelo.org was born.

Special Thanks:

 »big props to these organizations among others that help our efforts along the way