TodayTaking a macro ride for micro finance
Athlete plans cross-country bike ride for cause he believes in
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Boiling Springs grad Tyler Heishman is planning a cross-country bike ride for charity this summer.
In high school Tyler Heishman was a swimmer, serving as “a proud senior captain of the 2003-2004 undefeated team” at Boiling Springs.
But this summer Heishman, now 22 and about to graduate from Bentley College with a degree in economics and finance, is taking his athletic talents in a different direction — an adventure and advocacy mission he and his five teammates have dubbed MicroBikeUSA.
“One of my roommates and teammates has had this idea since high school to bike across the country,” Heishman says, explaining that he has grown comfortable biking since taking up triathlons at college.
The idea struck him as a good one, Heishman says, and he began planning for it a year ago — just about the time Bentley held a conference on the issue of micro finance.
The concept, Heishman explains, involves making small loans to impoverished people who use the money to start businesses and improve their lives.
In describing micro finance, MicroBikeUSA says this: “With over three billion people in the world living on less than $2 a day, loans as small as $50 can change lives. Micro loans can give billions a chance to break the cycle of poverty by leveraging their untapped entrepreneurial spirit. The loans are repaid at respectable interest rates, and history has demonstrated remarkable repayment rates often higher than seen with traditional loans.”
Riding for a cause isn’t a new idea, Heishman says, but he thinks his interest in finance and the fact that many are not aware of the potential of micro finance to alleviate poverty makes it the right cause for the ride.
So, while Heishman and his teammates spend June 8 to Aug. 9 pedaling from Darien, Conn., to San Francisco, they’ll also be making stops at churches and public forums along the way to advocate micro finance. More specifically, they will talk about ACCION International, which has been supporting micro finance in developing countries since 1973.
“The more we thought about it, the more we really loved how it could relate to us and taking what we learned in business school to help fight poverty,” Heishman says. To help, he says, people can contribute to ACCION in the group’s name; suggest places for them to speak; and spread the word.
Heishman adds that he’s also excited about the chance to see the country, reflect on life and tackle a challenge as he makes the transition from college to working at Bridgewater Associates, an asset management firm.
Heishman’s father, Paul Heishman, who still lives in Boiling Springs, says news that his son wanted to do the trip did not surprise him. Ever since the forum, he said, Tyler Heishman has been touting micro finance.
“He was really impressed with all of the speakers that day,” Paul Heishman says, pointing out that his son even forwarded links so he could read for himself what a difference such loans have made in people’s lives.
“We’re looking forward to getting the story as it unfolds,” Paul Heishman says. And, he adds, because an early leg of the trip is supposed to be coming through this area, “He’ll get a home-cooked meal and a shower for one more night.”
