Wokai Blog: Meet the Wokai Team: Jon Wyler on building Wokai's Chapter network, poverty and the power of microfinance for China, and the story of a Wokai entrepreneur: Wokai China Microfinance Blog

This is my first in a series of vlogs chronicling Wokai, my life in Beijing and travels around the world, and my daily experiences of the power of microfinance as a tool for alleviating poverty in China.

When we started the year, one of my major goals was to build a world-class team that would take Wokai from 200+ borrowers and $150,000 in loans to tens of thousands of contributors and borrowers throughout China and the world. I aimed to find a team that would also transform Wokai itself into a sustainable organization that would get a whole new generation of people in China engaged in philanthropy.

Six months later, our full-time paid team has gone from 1 person, Zhang Sheng, our Director of China Operations, to five people who far exceed what I dreamed of when we started this journey. So to kick off my vlog series, I thought I'd let our team members (both paid and volunteer) tell their stories.

Here's the story of Jon Wyler, our Associate Extroardinaire, who has volunteered for a year with Wokai in Beijing to help us grow from 6 Chapters in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai, six months ago, to 20 Chapters throughout Greater China, Europe, Canada, and the US by the end of September.

Hear about the synergies between managing rock bands and managing Wokai's Chapters, why we should support microfinance in China, and the impact of Wokai's Field Partner staff, their training and support on one of Wokai's micro-entrepreneurs who started a small restaurant in Inner Mongolia.