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Special Report - Special Report - January 31, 2013
SNAP Financial Access makes big gains with micro loans to refugees
World Relief Spokane, SNAP team up to help refugees' small businesses start

By Jessica Valencia
Of the Journal of Business

Ivan Yerebakan, left, and Greg Franson says the micro-enterprise development program here has made 109 loans worth $958,000 since 2007, helping to create 314 jobs.
Ivan Yerebakan, left, and Greg Franson says the micro-enterprise development program here has made 109 loans worth $958,000 since 2007, helping to create 314 jobs.
—Staff photo by Jessica Valencia
Greg Franson, of SNAP Financial Access, and World Relief Spokane's Ivan Yerebakan have worked in tandem for years on a program meant to kick-start small businesses operated by refugees that find themselves relocated to Spokane.

The micro-enterprise development program provides education and lending opportunities for refugees, who typically are seeking amnesty from their home country for religious or political reasons. A micro-enterprise is a business with five or fewer employees, s...


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