    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [February 5, 1999]
    [Pages 171-175]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Awards for Excellence in
    Microenterprise Development
    February 5, 1999

        The President. Thank you. Carol, you'd
    better watch it; before you know it you'll be running for office.
    [Laughter] What a remarkable statement; thank you so much.
        I'd like to take a little--a few moments more than I normally would
    by way of introduction today. Hillary and I and Bob Rubin are real happy
    today, because this is one of the things that I ran for President to do,
    to see these stories, to see the spirit, and to see the potential.
        I want to thank Secretary Rubin. You
    know, I used to tell a joke about Bob Rubin. He's been here a long time
    now, and he left this fabulous career on Wall Street. And I used to tell
    everybody that I asked Bob Rubin to come to Washington in 1993 to help
    me save the middle class, and by the time he leaves he'll be one of
    them. [Laughter]
        Secretary Rubin. That always seems a lot
    funnier to you, Mr. President. [Laughter]
        The President. Yes. I don't know how much it's cost him to stay here these 6 years, but one of the reasons
    that I really wanted him to come is that when we--even in the beginning,
    when we began talking about these matters in '92, he always said, ``You
    know, I'd like to get the economy going again and working again, and
    then we could maybe really do something for poor people in this country.
    Maybe we could really bring the spirit of enterprise to all these places
    that have been left behind.''
        I don't know how many Secretaries of the Treasury in our country's
    history have ever had that sort of driving passion. But I know we had
    one, and he's done a magnificent job. And
    I'm very grateful to him.
        I want to thank Senator Harkin, Senator
    Kennedy, Senator Wellstone, Congressman Oberstar,
    Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
    for supporting this economic vision so strongly. I thank former Senator
    Riegle, who is here, who was the
    committee chairman who helped us to make this a critical part, this
    whole microenterprise, a critical part of our economic strategy way back
    in 1993.
        I welcome Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson from Iowa; we're delighted to have her here with her
    honorees. I want to thank our former OMB Director Frank Raines; Mary Ellen Withrow, our Treasurer; Ellen Lazar and others who have
    supported our efforts here. A special word of thanks to Aida
    Alvarez and Betsy Myers
    and all the other members of her team from SBA who are here. And to
    Brian Atwood and Hattie Babbitt and the others from AID. I believe that under our
    administration we funded 2 million of these small microenterprise loans,
    from Africa to Asia to Latin America, last year.
        There's one group of people who have not been acknowledged--and
    Hillary and I were talking about it--who were out there ahead of the
    Federal Government for years, without whom microenterprise never would
    have really taken off in America, and that's all the members of the
    foundation community. I'd like to--all the representatives of the
    foundations that are here that have supported microenterprise lending,
    I'd like to ask you to stand, please, and be acknowledged. Thank you.
    [Applause] Thank you very much.
        And I'll say more about this in a minute, but this whole issue has
    been a passion for the

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    First Lady for, as she said, about 15
    years. We had a friend who was working at the South Shore Bank in
    Chicago which had a microenterprise loan program. We went there; we saw
    what they were doing.
        Then in 1984 I was able to meet, here in Washington--I was here at a
    Governor's meeting; I'll never forget it. I got up early one morning and
    had breakfast with Muhammad Yunus, who had
    been trained as an economist in the United States and then gone to
    Bangladesh and set up the Grameen Bank. Hundreds of thousands of loans
    had been made--market interest rates--very tiny loans, almost all to
    poor village women. The repayment rate was better than the commercial
    banks in Bangladesh, and it changed my thinking about this forever.
        And then Hillary scrounged up
    some foundation money and other money, and I squeezed some out of the
    Arkansas Legislature, and we started a development bank with a
    microenterprise program in Arkansas. And after I became President, she
    literally has gone all across the world. She's been in small villages on
    every continent, where people like her never go.
        And I should tell the rest of the story because I don't think
    President Museveni would object. I
    have the highest regard for the President of Uganda. He's one of the
    most intelligent and effective leaders of any developing country
    anywhere in the world. But when we were walking on this little rocky
    pathway into this village to see all these village women who now had
    their own businesses, he looked at me, and he said, ``That's some wife
    you've got.'' He said, ``Until you showed up here, I didn't even know we
    had these programs in our country.'' [Laughter]
        So, without her we probably
    wouldn't be here today. And I'm very, very grateful for everything that
    Hillary has done to champion this cause.
        I also want to say a word of appreciation to Carol and all the other
    small-business owners here. It takes a lot of courage to run a small
    business. Hillary and I have talked about this a lot. She talked to me
    about one time when she was a high school girl, she worked in a small
    business in her hometown, and there were days when no one came in. Every
    day, if you open a small business, you feel like politicians feel on
    election day. [Laughter]
        I'll never forget--I can't remember, one of the great old Hollywood
    moguls said, ``You know, if you make a bad movie, the people will stay
    away, and you cannot stop them''--[laughter]--which I think is great. So
    I want to thank all of you for having the spirit of enterprise and the
    vision and the courage.
        This whole country is basically built by entrepreneurs, whether
    they're in Silicon Valley or young investment bankers in Manhattan or
    people running the street-vending operations out here for the tourists
    in Washington. The genius of actually being able to have an idea and act
    on it, and having people respond to it and invest in it and be your
    customers and, as Carol said, in a way validate your ideas, your
    character, and your hard work, it's the whole secret of America.
        And because of the strength of our economy, I believe we have an
    obligation to give that opportunity to everyone. Just this morning we
    learned that what is now the longest peacetime expansion in American
    history has grown longer. Last month our economy created nearly another
    quarter-million jobs, and unemployment stayed at 4.3 percent. That's the
    lowest peacetime rate since 1957. Wages now rising at over twice the
    rate of inflation. Again, unemployment rates among Hispanic- and
    African-Americans dropped to their lowest recorded levels ever.
        Now, if we cannot expand opportunity into every corner of America
    now, we will never get around to it. We have an obligation now to spread
    the spirit and the opportunity for enterprise to all the American
    people. As you've heard from others, we've been working on this for 6
    years now, working to bring opportunities to some of our most distressed
    communities, with an agenda of empowerment. That's what we celebrate
    here, not a handout, a hand up. This microenterprise program is the
    embodiment of empowerment.
        We know--and I was so glad to hear what Carol said about self-
    esteem, because sometimes a crisis of economic distress is a crisis of
    the spirit as well, a shortage of confidence that is just as
    debilitating as a shortage of cash. And these stories today--I want all
    of you to imagine not only the economic success but what it has done to
    these people's lives. There are stories like this all over America and
    all over the world.
        What does it mean to a single mom's life when she goes to the
    mailbox in the morning and sees a bank statement instead of a welfare
    check? What does it mean to a child when he or she can go to school and
    say, when they ask, ``What does your mother do for a living?'' ``She
    owns a beauty shop?'' What does it mean

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    to a neighborhood when, all of a sudden, an old building that has been
    vacant for 10 years has a ``help wanted'' sign out in front of it?
        This is about more than economics. And through our network of
    community development banks--or CDFI's, as we call them, community
    development financial institutions--through the strengthened and
    streamlined Community Reinvestment Act--and I will say that even though
    that act has been on the books for more than 20 years now, 95 percent of
    all the investment under community reinvestment has been done in the
    last 6 years, in our administration. And I'm proud of that. And the
    banks are doing quite well. [Laughter] They're doing well by doing good.
    And it's important to remember as the debate develops this year about
    that. And through these empowerment zones, we've seen the steady
    expansion of opportunity.
        Last month, as the Secretary said, I announced this new markets
    initiative, to spur even more private investment in underserved areas.
    And we want to reach--building a bridge from Wall Street to Harlem, to
    Appalachia, to the Mississippi Delta, to south Texas, to Pine Ridge,
    South Dakota--everywhere there are opportunities still untapped.
        Today I am proud to announce that, as a part of our budget, we would
    more than double our support for microenterprise in America. We would
    continue our--[applause]--thank you. We also want to continue our
    efforts to promote microenterprise abroad, especially in the nations
    that have been hardest hit by the global financial crisis or by our
    neighbors hit by natural disasters. And I think that is very important,
    because we are giving courage and awareness to other governments and
    other countries to do more for their own people in this regard.
        First, we recognize that, for the vast majority of
    microentrepreneurs, good ideas and credit are just the beginning. A
    little guidance, lessons on accounting, billing, planning, those things
    are essential for any business to thrive in a complex economy. The
    budget doubles the Small Business Administration's capacity to provide
    such training through its microloan program, triples support for SBA's
    one-stop capital shops, which offer microlending advice and other
    assistance in disadvantaged communities. I'm also proud to support the
    bipartisan program for investments in microentrepreneurs, the PRIME Act,
    sponsored by Senator Kennedy and Senator
    Domenici from New Mexico, and
    Representatives Rush, Leach, and LaFalce, so that we can
    expand our technical assistance through the Treasury's CDFI fund.
        Second, we want to make even more credit available to low-income
    Americans with good business ideas. That's why I'm proposing to leverage
    more than $75 million in new loans by doubling our support for the SBA's
    microloan program.
        Third, we want to keep encouraging Americans to save some of their
    own hard-earned money, to start or expand businesses. Last year, I was
    proud to sign new individual development accounts into law, fulfilling a
    campaign pledge from 1992, and thanks in no small measure to the
    leadership of Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa and
    former Senator Dan Coats from Indiana. We thank
    you very much, Senators, for that. [Applause] Thank you.
        For those of you who don't know, these individual development
    accounts, IDA's, are special accounts that provide Federal matching
    funds to low-income Americans who save money to invest in their
    business, buy a first home, pay for a college education. I want to
    double support for these accounts in our budget.
        Next, we will continue to lead the world through USAID to promote
    microenterprise for millions of families to get out of poverty in other
    countries. The recent local financial crisis and the hurricanes in
    Central America and the Caribbean have literally upended the lives of
    tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. As you have heard
    from the First Lady's account, we have seen, first hand, how these
    loans, sometimes in other countries loans as small as $10, $15, $25, $50
    can make all the difference in helping families to get back on their
    feet.
        Our balanced budget will target extra microenterprise assistance to
    the countries that are in trouble. And to break down the bureaucratic
    walls that block microenterprise in some developing countries, we'll
    continue to work with the World Bank and other financial institutions to
    reform the regulatory structures so we can make more of these loans
    available. There is a virtually unlimited potential abroad and at home
    for this, and I keep hoping if we just keep pushing and keep pushing and
    keep pushing we will reach a critical mass of investment which will
    explode it and let the whole world know that this works.
        And this ceremony today is a part of letting the whole world know.
    So we come here not

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    only to honor you with these Presidential Awards for Excellence in
    Microenterprise but to say to the world that these six organizations
    whose vision and commitment have made such a profound difference in the
    lives of the business owners, their employees, and their customers are
    but a small beginning of what we could achieve together in the United
    States and throughout the world if we work harder to make the economy
    work for ordinary citizens.
        And so this, too, is a part of letting the whole world know. And
    when you come up here and get your awards I hope that you will not only
    feel enormous pride; I hope that you will not only feel an enormous
    sense of rededication to further success; I hope you will feel that you
    are sending a message to people who will see this all over America or
    read about it in their newspapers. And you may be sparking someone
    else's conviction either that, A, they ought to set up one of these
    funds, or B, they ought to find one and get a loan.
        And I believe that we will continue to see the steady march of
    progress here. This has the potential to revolutionize not only the
    lives of ordinary Americans but the whole way we organize our economy
    here and around the world.
        So, first: For excellence in the category of access to capital, the
    Microcredit Industry Rural Organization. Since 1987, MICRO has provided
    some $5.5 million in loans to more than 1,000 entrepreneurs living in
    rural Arizona's poorest Hispanic communities. Accepting this award is
    Executive Director Frank Ballesteros and
    entrepreneur Maria Jesus Gaxiola, a
    former migrant farm worker who used a $1,500 loan to build her own
    cosmetics business, and I might say, she's a remarkable walking
    advertisement for her success. [Laughter] Please come up here.

    [The President presented the award.]

        Next, for excellence in developing entrepreneurial skills, the
    Detroit Entrepreneurship Institute. Founded at Wayne State University,
    the institute has worked to teach low-income clients the full range of
    business skills. Clients can also take advantage of a free computer
    center, a tax preparation service, and graphic design department to help
    launch and expand their businesses. Accepting this award is Cathy
    McClelland, the president and CEO; and
    Jackie Tucker, who started a successful
    catering business after training at the institute. I'd like to ask them
    to come up now.

    [The President presented the award.]

        Also for excellence in developing entrepreneurial skills, the
    Northeast Entrepreneur Fund of Virginia, Minnesota--[laughter]--in the
    Iron Range, north of Duluth. Serving rural communities throughout a
    20,000 square mile area, the fund offers one-on-one counseling to
    clients, helping them to tailor their studies to specific needs.
    Accepting this award is the fund's president, Mary Mathews; and our star speaker today--[laughter]--Carol
    Willoughby.

    [The President presented the award.]

        For excellence in poverty alleviation, the Institute for Social and
    Economic Development of Iowa. One of the earliest statewide
    microenterprise efforts in the Nation, the Institute--listen to this--
    has helped 90 percent of its welfare clients free themselves from lives
    of dependency through self-employment. Accepting this award today is
    John Else, founder and president; and entrepreneur
    Rhonda Auten, a former welfare recipient who
    started her own dance school with help from ISED.

    [The President presented the award.]

        For excellence in private support for microenterprise development,
    the Corporation for Enterprise Development. For two decades, through
    research, public advocacy, and technical assistance to microenterprise
    organizations, the corporation has fostered so much of the progress we
    see today, including the success of three of this year's award winners.
    We are all--including all of us in this administration--profoundly
    indebted to the awardee, the corporation, and its founder and chairman,
    Mr. Robert Friedman.

    [The President presented the award.]

        For excellence in public support for microenterprise development,
    the Montana Microbusiness Finance Program. As part of the Montana
    Department of Commerce, this program has helped to launch or sustain a
    dozen microlending organizations serving communities throughout that
    vast and beautiful State. Accepting this award are program officer Robyn
    Hampton and entrepreneurs Kevin and Heidi Snyder, who used a
    microloan to start their racquetball and fitness centers. They are two

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    walking advertisements for what they're doing, as you can see.
    [Laughter] Come on up.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the award.]

        Now, don't you feel better than you did when you got up this
    morning? [Laughter] Isn't this great?
        Henry Ford--a small entrepreneur--once said that the best Americans
    were those with ``an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done.''
    We honor those kinds of Americans, testaments to the power of enterprise
    and the strength of the human spirit.
        I ask you to leave here committed to work in the years ahead to
    bring this spirit, and this opportunity, to every corner of every
    community in our land and on our globe.
        Thank you very much, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:37 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Carol Willoughby, owner, Let the
    Whole World Know, who introduced the President; former Senator Donald W.
    Riegle, Jr.; Muhammad Yunus, founder and chief executive, Grameen Bank,
    Bangladesh; and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda. The
    transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
    the remarks of the First Lady.