In a city like San Francisco where there is a restaurant for every 376 people, it’s almost impossible to have a bad meal. From the flurry of new arrivals on the restaurant scene to the dizzying array of Michelin starred eateries like French Laundry, it’s easy to forget about our local entrepreneurs who are financially excluded from accessing the resources they need to launch and grow their food businesses. Enter La Cocina, a groundbreaking business incubator designed to reduce the obstacles that prevent low-income food entrepreneurs from creating successful and sustainable businesses...
Continue Reading >>Born and raised in Singapore, Emelyn left home to attend boarding school in Massachusetts before pursuing her undergraduate degree at New York University. Upon graduation, Emelyn began her career as an analyst at J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank, working on structuring and originating fixed income securities for both private and public sector clients. While her professional work experiences allowed her to discover the transformative effect of capital markets, her pro-bono consulting experiences with nonprofits and social enterprises revealed the challenges that small businesses face getting access to capital. When she is not working, Emelyn likes to drink too much coffee, spin aggressively, cook ambitiously and watch travel documentaries. Emelyn is excited to serve as a Kiva Zip fellow in San Francisco, where she will be able to see first-hand how innovative technological and financial solutions can be leveraged to benefit those who are underserved by the traditional banking system.