Portland State Magazine Spring 2010

Growing small businesses worldwide KRIST I YUTHAS may be a leader in microfinance analysis, however her work is anything but small. Microfinance is the lending of small sums of money to low-income clients. For Third World entrepreneurs-often women who are the sole support for their fan1ilies-this means loans to sup– port such enterprises as a farm in Peru, a cloth weaving business in Guatemala, or the selling of homemade tortillas in Nicaragua. The microfinance industry has grown by over 1,300 percent in the past 10 years and now provides funds to over 150 million people in developing coun– tries. The problem, according to Yuthas, assistant professor of Busine s Admin– istration, is that microfinance lenders have become too concerned with their own bottom line and do not provide the training necessary for clients to grow their businesses and lift themselves out of poverty. "There's a lot of money going out, but not a large amount of impact," says Yuthas. "Over time the focus has shifted so much to lending institutions making money that they forgot small bu iness owners weren't being served." The professor's work is centered on creating a solmion. She has partnered with Opportunity International, a microfinance institution, to develop a training program for its loan recipi– ents-initially in Columbia and then in developing countries around the world. Microentrepreneurs will receive the basics of small business: how to budget, control costs, manage risk, and identify opportunities. Eventually the training will be made available to elementary school children in countries where students often do not attend school beyond sixth grade. "That makes entrepreneurship an important life skill that needs to be integrated into education at a young age," says Yuthas. Startling study on smokeless tobacco SOM E BRAND -NAM E smokeless tobaccos are seven times more minty than candy, making them appealing to adole cents while also posing a health risk for some users. These are the find– ings of Portland State professor Jim Pankow, whose study was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology, a leading scholarly journal. Professor Jim Pankow found that some chewing tobaccos have more candy-like flavoring than candy. Pankow, a professor of chemistry and civil engineering, began his research after hearing concerns from public health profe ionals that adding flavor– ings to smokeless tobacco products makes them more "candy like" and thus more appealing to yomh. "I decided," says Pankow, "that someone should make some direct comparisons between the levels ofsuch flavorant compounds in major smokeless robacco products and popular brand-nan1e candy products. Moreover, the amount of wintergreen flavorant (methyl salicylate) could by itself pose serious heal th risks to some consumers." Pankow's and others' suspicions may be confirmed in a 2009 survey spon– sored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The survey found smokeless PARK BLOCKS Business professor Kristi Yuthas believes the $10 billion worldwide microfinance industry is not lifting people out of poverty. Photo by Kelly James. products gaining popularity with 10th– and 12th-graders. In addition, the levels of wintergreen flavoring in numerous brands of smokeless tobacco exceed the maximum acceptable daily intake estab– lished by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Association and the World Health Organization. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden recalls attending a committee hearing in the 1990s where he asked CEOs of the major robacco companies if they believed nicotine was addictive. "Before Congress and the American people they denied the addictiveness of their prod– uct. Professor Pankow's report indicates that the tobacco companies are still up to their old tricks of deceiving the public by using flavorings in smokeless tobacco to appeal to underage users." ■