J.D. Crouch '96
J.D. Crouch '96 looks out the dust-smeared window of his small plane leaving Kabul. The landscape unfolding below seems like another planet - planets, really. One minute, it's lush river valley, an earthly paradise. The next, a rocky, desolate terrain like the moon. Then, Martian-red sandy deserts.
Crouch is not your typical visitor. And this is not your typical country. Afghanistan isn't exactly known as a tourist hotspot. It's more famous for its impenetrable mountains, its harsh geography and its people's unbreakable resistance to outside influence for more than a millennium. Just look around; the country is littered with the remnants of one such failed attempt: burned-out Soviet tanks, abandoned armored vehicles and downed assault helicopters.
But that doesn't bother Crouch. He's here on business. And his message is not falling on deaf or defiant ears.
Crouch represents a new thought in the financial universe. Think of it as a crossroads where altruism meets capitalism. Less patent leather shoes and corporate power tie, more bare feet and shalwar kameez, the traditional Afghan's outfit known for its comfort and versatility.
Basically, Crouch is a banker. More precisely, he is a banking consultant for ShoreBank International, a subsidiary of ShoreBank - a Chicago-based community development bank in the vanguard of combating poverty and financial inequality in the emerging world."
We represent access," Crouch explains, "a pretty important concept in improving people's lives. We are specialists and experts in implementing micro-finance and small-business lending programs."
In 2006, Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker and economic intellectual who pioneered the concept of micro-finance, garnered international attention when he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yunus famously quipped that "poverty is unnecessary," believing that economic prosperity and world peace are directly related.
"I did something that challenged the banking world," Yunus added. "Conventional banks look for the rich; we look for the absolutely poor. All people are entrepreneurs, but many don't have the opportunity to find that out."
Enter ShoreBank International and J.D. Crouch.
"Now understand, micro-financing is not the silver bullet to end poverty," Crouch admits. "It simply plants the seed. It gives people hope and dignity. They are treated like anyone else and they know that they can grow their businesses and increase their incomes. It gives them a shot at upward mobility - something we take for granted in America."
The definition of micro-lending is broad, but on the whole, it's when a group forms (usually 10 to 30 people) to serve as each other's guarantors to receive a loan from a micro-finance institution, either a not-for-profit or for-profit bank. These loans are usually in the range of $50 to $500, depending on the country and market.
"Another important component of what we do," Crouch notes, "is reaching what is known as the 'missing middle' - those individuals or small businesses that need loans from $3,000 to $100,000. By providing financial access to small and medium-sized businesses, you are more likely to create employment opportunities, which in turn is more likely to drive and expand the macro economy."
"Remember," he adds, "America is not a lot of Microsofts. The bedrock of most economies is small business. In the emerging world, sometimes there is no access for small businesses because of educational and cultural conditions or just the newness of modern finance to this particular population. What ShoreBank tries to do is bridge this gap by creating and implementing lending programs with local institutions or banks that will then provide access to finance for lower- and/or middle-income markets. In a nutshell, it comes down to access.
"In order to open these doors to financial resources, Crouch travels around the emerging world - whether Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine or, most recently, India - and engages with local stakeholders to develop and deploy lending programs tailored to the needs of the market.
"It's a multi-step process," Crouch explains, "that focuses on working directly with everyone from senior managers on strategy to doing workshops and trainings with front-line lenders, covering everything from business development to how to do cash-based lending.
"Not bad for a theatre major with no finance or banking background. What Crouch does bring to the table, besides an incredible aptitude for learning and an ability to communicate with diverse groups, is an international perspective. After graduation, he served in the Peace Corps for six years in Kazakhstan. Soon after returning to the States, he moved to Atlanta and worked at Turner Broadcasting Systems, doing various project-manager jobs. However, he found himself longing to go back overseas. "I have always been a bit of a wanderer," he says.
In 2005, Crouch landed a job with Emerging Markets Group, an international business consulting firm based in Arlington, Va. And soon after, ShoreBank International came calling to see if he was ready to go back into the field.
He was - bags ready to go. Now, it was wandering with a purpose.
"The developing world is not at all what you think," Crouch says. "Just like South Carolina, these countries have a lot of different socioeconomic realities - rich areas, poor areas and everything in between. And there is a real opportunity to make an impact because these people are extremely intelligent. They have a tradition of business and trading that goes back thousands of years. And although in some places, it's as if Hurricane Hugo has hit every day, they survive ... even thrive.
"These people of the emerging world have done so much with so little for so long. And just imagine, Crouch believes, what newfound financial access can achieve. "The world is increasingly more connected, and the success of the lower-income population in emerging economies affects us all," Crouch points out. "Stability is the key. A better financial climate in the developing world means better education, better health, a better life for a greater number of people."
And that means a better world. 