Press Release

Expert Explores Microfinance

ATLANTA – As part of Oglethorpe University’s Microfinance and Social Investment Seminar Steve Hardgrave, program director at Gray Matter Capital, will speak Thursday, January 24, at 4:30 p.m. in Dolive Theatre. The lecture is free and open to the public.

This lecture is part of a series of interactive seminars, used to examine the role that microfinance, as popularized by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mohammad Yunus, has played in lifting millions out of poverty.  As a measure of poverty, economists estimate that over one billion people in the world today live on less than the equivalent of $1 a day. The course is a result of a unique collaboration between Atlanta-based Gray Matter Capital and Oglethorpe University. In addition to gaining insights into the causes and scope of poverty, students will analyze underlying economic theories related to growth and development. Additionally, students will have an opportunity to interact with micro-lenders and micro-enterprises in the Atlanta area and develop a service learning project. 

Steve Hardgrave is currently the program director at Gray Matter Capital as well as a board member at Partners In Hope. Previously, Hardgrave served as manager of investments at Omidyar Network and director of microfinance and economic development coordinator at the Mexican Association for Rural and Urban Transformation. He earned his MBA in Social Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Business Development from the University of California at Berkeley’s Walter A. Haas School of Business and received his BA in Economics and International Area Studies from UCLA.

A reception will follow the lecture at 6:00 p.m. in the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art. For more information please call 404.364.8347.