Corporate Profile for ACCION International, dated Jan. 28, 2000.

    Business Editors

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Published Date:   Jan. 28, 2000

Company Name:     ACCION International

Address:          120 Beacon Street
                  Somerville, MA 02143

Main Telephone
 Number:          [phone]

Internet Home
 Page Address
  (URL)           www.accion.org

Chief Executive
 Officer:         Maria Otero

Chief Financial
 Officer:         Catherine Quense

Public Relations
 Contact:         Robin Ratcliffe
 Business number: [phone] x 1235
 E-mail address:  [e-mail]

Industry:         microfinance

*T

    Company description: The mission of ACCION International is to
give people the tools they need to work their way out of poverty. By
providing small or &uot;micro&uot; loans and business training to poor women
and men who start their own businesses, ACCION's microcredit
affiliates help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with
dignity and pride. ACCION seeks to bring this opportunity to as many
of the world's 3 billion poor as possible by developing microcredit
institutions that are financially self-sustaining and together capable
of reaching millions of people.
    ACCION's network, which works in 14 Latin American countries and
ten U.S. cities, has made $2.2 billion in loans as small as $100 to
over 1.6 million people. Ninety-eight percent of the loans have been
paid back.

    --30--jr/bos*

   CONTACT: ACCION International
            Brooke Barton, [phone] x 1325

   KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS
   INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS
   PROFILE: YES