Adam Cleland serves as Training Manager for Microfinance Institutions at HOPE International, and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). HOPE International is a network of for-profit microfinance institutions and church-based savings group ministries in 21 countries across Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. HOPE’s mission is to invest in the dreams of families in the world’s underserved communities as we live and proclaim the Gospel.

HOPE responds to global poverty with a holistic approach, with training as a key input alongside loans for global entrepreneurs on the poverty line. Adam oversees financial and business literacy trainings that integrate well in an entrepreneur’s busy schedule. HOPE’s training audience is often illiterate or lacking formal education. Often, trainings to these types of clients must occur in short, bespoke periods of time and space, such as on site at a client’s fruit stand or woodshop. As a result, strategic adult learning principles and practices must be conveyed to a wide range of individuals in the HOPE network who participate in our training approach (loan officers, managers, consultants, peer entrepreneurs, etc). It is a privilege and challenge for HOPE to offer complementary training services in our market, and GLP has and continues to be foundational in our approach as a global non-profit organization that prioritizes training.

Adam holds a BA in Economics from Rice University in Houston, Texas (USA). Prior to joining HOPE International, he worked for the Swiss management consulting firm Egon Zehnder. Adam is fluent in Spanish and can be found mainly zonked out on a long-haul flight to somewhere far away from home.