Maria Otero

Maria Otero is one of the world’s leading voices on sustainable microfinance. She has hands-on global experience, with a long resume of senior staff and board positions in international organizations concerned with poverty and finance.

She currently is the president and CEO of ACCION International, a leading global microfinance institution that works to open the financial systems in developing countries to reach the poor.

Ms. Otero has published extensively on microfinance and was co-editor of the book, The New World of Microfinance. In addition to microfinance, Ms. Otero is a well-respected advocate for women and women’s issues and speaks from personal experience on women in leadership.

In 2005, she was profiled in Newsweek’s special report, “How Women Lead” as one of 20 of the most influential women in the United States. In 2000, she received Hispanic Magazine’s “Latina Excellence Award,” and was also featured in Latina magazine.

Maria Otero has been an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies since 1997. She was born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia.

In a world where three billion people live on less than $2 a day, it is not enough to help 1,000 or even 100,000 individuals. ACCION International gives people the tools they need to work their way out of poverty, hoping, ultimately, to reach tens of millions of people—enough to truly change the world. By providing "micro" loans and business training to poor women and men who start their own businesses, ACCION's partner lending organizations help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride.

Because charitable donations alone cannot accomplish this goal, ACCION is leading the effort to make microlending financially self-sustaining. ACCION's emphasis on commercial viability and institutional growth—known as the financial systems approach—has helped its partner microfinance institutions reach scale and financial self-sufficiency. To help its partners attain these goals, ACCION provides technical assistance to improve operations and efficiency and loan guarantees to help access commercial capital.

Several partners have already made the transition from nonprofit, charity-dependent organizations to banks or other regulated financial institutions. By proving that it is possible for a commercial lender to both serve the poor and make a profit, other commercial banks are increasingly opening their doors to microentrepreneurs. ACCION has also been active in land-titling and an innovator in credit-scoring techniques.