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Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Fall 2006 : Alfonso Soriano: Fighting Against Poverty

Fall 2006

In this issue... New Opportunity Ringing in Rwanda Haiti Partner: More Than Microfinance New Look, New Location, Same Commitment President's Message Alfonso Soriano: Fighting Against Poverty Um Khaled: Successful Product Reseller GF Research Advances Industry Knowledge Partnership For Latin America's Poorest Gates Foundation Awards $1.5 Million Grameen Shikkha: Scholarships Of Hope === Back to contents ===

Alfonso Soriano: Playing To Win The Fight Against Poverty

U.S. major league baseball superstar Alfonso Soriano knows baseball as well as what it’s like to live in poverty. That’s why Mr. Soriano is partnering with Grameen Foundation (GF) to help thousands of the poorest individuals in the Dominican Republic, his native country, to escape poverty through microfinance. Long-time GF supporter Mona Bentz had a chance to sit down with Mr. Soriano to discuss his interest in microfinance and how the Andrea Soriano Fund, named after his mother, is benefiting the extreme poor in the Dominican Republic.

MS. BENTZ: Mr. Soriano, the nation knows you as a great baseball icon, playing with the Yankees, the Rangers, and now the Nationals. What many people don’t know is that Washington, D.C. is not just the home of the Nationals, but also the home of a fund you set up in association with the Grameen Foundation. Can you tell us a little bit about that fund?

MR. SORIANO: The purpose of the Andrea Soriano Fund is to provide financial and technical assistance to organizations in the Dominican Republic that provide tiny loans to critically impoverished individuals to start or expand their businesses. The fund was named after my mother, in honor of poor women in the Dominican Republic who will benefit through donations to it.

MS. BENTZ: How did you become involved with microfinance?

MR. SORIANO: When I was playing with the New York Yankees, a Grameen Foundation board
member, Steven C. Rockefeller, Jr., approached me about the organization. I was very interested from the beginning because I can easily relate to the families that are touched by microfinance. The more I learned about microfinance, the more impressed I was, and in 2005 I decided I wanted to work with Grameen Foundation to provide microloans, together with related financial services to women in the Dominican Republic’s poorest areas.

MS. BENTZ: Can you tell us more about growing up in poverty?

MR. SORIANO: Well, as you know, I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. I grew up in a little village called Quisqueya. I saw how hard every member of my family had to work to put food on our table, and looking back, sometimes we had unbelievable hardship. When I see these families trying to build a dream—hope for their children—I see my own family. Without hard work and tremendous sacrifice, my own dream, and my family’s dream of a better life for me, could not have become a reality. I feel incredibly honored to have the opportunity to help in some way to empower my fellow countrymen to create a better life for themselves and their children.

The Andrea Soriano Fund is a fundraising endeavor that engages donors interested in supporting programs in the Dominican Republic. Since it was established, the Andrea Soriano Fund has raised over $100,000 from a diverse community of donors. Support from the Andrea Soriano Fund has helped our partner Esperanza, which means “hope” in Spanish, to bring access to microfinance, educational training, and preventative healthcare to more than 5000 underserved individuals. Current plans, to be achieved only if adequate funding is obtained, would directly reach 18,000 individuals, and benefit an additional 80,000 family members of the borrowers by 2008.

To learn more about the Andrea Soriano Fund and how you can support it, contact dsuleri@grameenfoundation.org.

Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Fall 2006 : Alfonso Soriano: Fighting Against Poverty