Micro-Lending and Community Development

Yasmin Badri is the founder and CEO of MicroCare Community Development Solutions, known as MicroCare, an Arizona-based nonprofit organization and community loan fund dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for underserved entrepreneurs, immigrants, refugees, and small business owners.

Before founding MicroCare, Ms. Badri worked with international and community-based organizations, including the United Nations in Sudan, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and local organizations serving multicultural communities in Arizona. Her experience spans community economic development, microenterprise, refugee support, financial inclusion, digital literacy, documentary storytelling, and program development.

An American immigrant born in Germany to a Sudanese father and Ethiopian mother, Ms. Badri has called Arizona home since 2007. Her great-grandfather, Mr. Babikr Bedri, was a pioneer of women’s education in Sudan and helped lay the foundation for what is now Ahfad University for Women. That legacy continues to influence her work today as she supports women, immigrants, refugees, and emerging entrepreneurs in building more secure and productive futures.

Ms. Badri holds three master’s degrees: one in international community economic development, an MBA, and a degree in media production and broadcast journalism from England. Earlier in her career, she received the British Council Chevening Award, which supported her work as a documentary filmmaker. She went on to direct documentary videos for the United Nations and international nongovernmental organizations, using storytelling to highlight programs serving disadvantaged communities and to promote sustainability, funding, and public awareness.