Former Director of the World Bank Launches 1st Ever Mobile E-commerce and Micro-finance Platform

Chicago 4/11/2011 10:20 PM GMT (WooEB)

Our Founder & Leaders Andrea Lucas, PMD, MBA, CPA, CMC, is founder and Managing Director of Club-Asteria. Andrea is a former Director of the World Bank, published author and mentor with over 30 years experience in finance, management, consulting and international project development in developing nations. A native of Austria, Andrea emigrated to Canada as a young woman, where she learned firsthand about the trials and tribulations of being a stranger in a foreign country. Club-Asteria grew from her vision to provide a way back for immigrants, expatriates and individuals in developing nations to own a business of their own, and enriching the lives of those caught in the cycle of generational poverty worldwide.

Hank Needham, Director of Sales and Marketing, is responsible for establishing Club-Asterias Country, Regional and Network Team Leaders. Hank has 22 Years experience in building Sales Teams throughout Europe, United States, Asia and Africa with special emphasis in the Network Marketing and Communications Industry.

Mark Kaplan spent forty years as a real estate broker, builder, developer and investor. His companies have developed, built and sold properties ranging from single family homes and pre-planned residential communities, to commercial office buildings and shopping centers and even mountaintop ski resort properties. He is co-founder and International Director of W.I.N. University, one of the top success training firms for entrepreneurs worldwide.

Dr. Rich Schuttler has 25-years of diversified domestic and international management and leadership improvement expertise. Dr. Rich has mentored executives, faculty, and students from around the world in academic settings, government agencies, Fortune 1,000 corporations and a variety of professional leadership and management settings. Dr. Schuttler served as Dean at the University of Phoenix from 2000-2004 (Business Weeks 2004 #3 Hottest Growing Companies) after a distinguished career as Page 10

 2011 Worldwide Club Asteria, www.Club-Asteria.com a U.S. Navy officer. He is the author of the book Laws of Communication: The Intersection Where Leadership Meets Employee Performance and co-author of The Lifetime Medical Organizer and The Million Dollar Attitude. Beco me A Member Now!

Chicago, IL How does an immigrant working in South Africa or the USA send $10 home to family in India without 25% of it being eaten up by bank remittance fees? Enter Club-Asteria, utilizing the latest in mobile banking technology Club-Asteria provides immigrants, expatriates and world citizens with a convenient, cost effective, modern mobile phone technology that allows them to save, manage and send money anywhere in the world. The remittance fee business is a 420 billion dollar a year industry and Club-Asteria is the first to offer a cheaper option for anyone, anywhere in the world. In addition to mobile banking, Club-Asteria also provides members with training and resources to become more successful in their professional and personal lives. From entrepreneurship, e-commerce and microfinance opportunities, Club-Asteria offers solutions to promote self-sufficiency and help end the cycle of poverty that hundreds of millions of people are trapped in. The reason Club-Asteria is different from other opportunities is that we grow by helping people in charitable ways. Our success as a company is entirely dependant on the success of our members and the amount of good they can do for themselves and others. We give the majority of company revenue back to members in the form of commissions, bonuses and weekly profit share, says Andrea Lucas, founder and managing partner of Club-Asteria (former director of the World Bank). In 7 short months, Club-Asteria has changed the lives of over 200,000 families in countries including Thailand, India, USA, Norway, and more. Club-Asteria was created by three members of WIN University; a high-level, global networking organization designed to assist entrepreneurs in growing their businesses through high level education and residual relationships. For more information on Club-Asteria visit: www.club-asteriaglobal.com -30About WIN University WIN University (Wealth Inspiration Network) is the braintrust of Bill Walsh, Venture Capitalist and Entrepreneur. WIN is a high-level, global networking organization that assists entrepreneurs in growing their businesses through a 3-tiered approach that includes: mentor driven business training and personal development; integrated live learning programs; and joint venture/new business funding. WIN University is helping entrepreneurs successfully launch and grow their business. For more information on WIN, visit: www.winuniversity.com or www.pti360.com

About Club-Asteria Club-Asteria is a Global Membership Organization that provides training, resources & innovative programs to empower its members. Its mission is to help members become financially independent, deliver a solution to the high cost of remittances so that more money ends up in the hands of the needy instead of the banks and financial institutions, as well as to profit-share the majority of company revenue among its members in the form of commissions and bonuses. Club-Asteria promotes self-sufficiency to help end the cycle of poverty that hundreds of millions of people are trapped in. For more information on Club-Asteria visit: www.club-asteriaglobal.com About Andrea Lucas Andrea Lucas, PMD, MBA, CPA, CMC and first female director of the World Bank, is the founder and managing partner of Club-Asteria. An immigrant from Austria now residing in Virginia, USA, Lucas has spent two decades as a world citizen and knows how difficult it is to be away from loved ones in a country where you do not know the language or have any friends. Lucass mission is to help as many people as she can in her lifetime Club-Asteria has provided her with the vehicle to do so.

When I first began working with Club Asteria, I learned that a significant amount of the population of our global community lives on $1.00 per day. It seemed incomprehensible and yet as I traveled to the different areas of the world, I not only witnessed the depth of poverty but grasped the notion that those who do live on $1.00 per day are fortunate in comparison to others. This overwhelming passion consumed me. What is the most effective way to help people emerge from poverty? Many people have many solutions as is true to most any problem we face; finding the answers that will help long term and contribute to the greatest number of people is the obvious resolution. At Club Asteria, we focus on the individual, his/her community, and the resources which will benefit the most. As an investor, have you ever considered what your investments say about you? If you considered that over a billion people need a small loan to equip them to climb from the cycle of poverty into the realm of provision, would you invest? Micro financing investors are realizing the return on their money is higher and the reward of helping our global economy significantly makes better sense. I recently spoke with an entrepreneur whose first loan was in the amount of $300.00. After successfully repaying the first loan, she was given $600.00. She has continued to repay the loans, on time, and her business has flourished through the educational seminars and support Club Asteria offers. On a personal note, I asked her what the business has done for her. Her children can go to school because she has the money to pay for it. Her home has indoor plumbing now. I enjoyed hearing her story of the night they installed her bathtub. At first she was very scared to fill the tub with more than an inch of water. It took her several attempts before she felt comfortable immersing herself. Now, a warm bath after a long day at work is something she looks forward to doing, a pleasure many of us take for granted. Just outside of Guatemala City, I visited a family of entrepreneurs who have been with our program for over a year now. The family is in the flower business. It is Women s Day and the concrete building which houses the florist is rushed with orders to be filled. For several minutes I just stand outside watching the flow of customers as they choose the flowers for their arrangements. The youngest daughter manages the cash register as the fingers of the father and mother prepare orders. In the back of the shop to my surprise I see one of our loan officer working the

back shop, clipping the roses to display for choosing. Seeing him working beside them brings a smile to my face. When all is said and done, micro financing is not just an investment; it is an avenue to bring people together. Micro finance shows what is best in people and brings to the table a social awareness of the world. We don t have to look overwhelmingly in discouragement at the statistics of poverty which tell us people live on $1.00 per day; instead, we can realize the impact $1.00 per day of our own money as an investment can have on the people of the world. It is all in the way we view it.

I once heard a mountain climber speak at a motivational seminar. She explained the manner in which she conquered one of the highest elevations in the world was very similar to eating an elephant one bite at a time. I didnt fully understand the depth of her statement until I began my work at Club Asteria. Sometimes the projects we undertake seem probably as large as Mt. Everest to a mountain climber the challenges to overcome, the poverty, the children, the endless issues -causing me to think it is all too enormous for us to handle. It is then that I remember to ask myself, Andrea, how do you eat an elephant? When Club Asteria first enters an area, there are numerous steps to follow to insure success. People often ask, Why dont you just give the people money? Why go to the trouble of education, investment, building businesses, and etc.? If we did just give people money as suggested, it would resemble a physician putting a band aid on a bleeding artery. In order to help overcome poverty, the root of the problem must be addressed. There just arent enough band aides otherwise. The bites we take start with an assessment of the environment, the resources available, the number of people in the community, and the conditions in which the community lives. Sometimes we do have to make the infrastructure livable before we can even begin educational programs. We test drinking water and the access to it. We look at the food supply and ways to improve distribution. What is the local economy and how can we strengthen it? Do people live interdependently? What are the medical conditions and access to care? All of these areas of interest will affect the success of small businesses for without the basic necessities, it is difficult to build a business. Our next bite deals with the ideas of the people our potential entrepreneurs. This part is my favorite for it is the people that make micro finance the ideal job for me. We interview and exam their ideas. Sometimes we have to intervene and create potential business options for those who want to better themselves but do not know how. Other times we help them set up internet businesses, especially when the local economy cannot support their idea. Our third bite involves education about business and how to be successful. This is required of anyone who wants a small loan. It not only helps us to get to know our entrepreneurs but builds a relationship of trust. The repayment of our loans is high and we feel it is because of the work we do beforehand. As we continue to bite away at the elephant, Club Asteria becomes a witness to families owning homes; children learning a trade or receiving an education; women making an income; and communities thriving for the first time in centuries. Ive learned eating an elephant isnt all that difficult but it does take perseverance one bite at a time.

The Indian subcontinent is an exotic success story, home to some of the largest business process outsourcing companies in the world, some of the best technical colleges in Asia, and at least 69 billionaires. But while business journals hail the success of India Inc., theres still another story to be told. Microfinance in India is catching onthere are plenty of people in local villages who want to take advantage of it, and perhaps even more importantly, there are plenty of people in the monied class who are willing to fund it. Microfinance works especially well in India because of the way retail works. Although we always hear of big multinational chains wanting to move into the Indian market, the majority of retail is still informalthat is, most shops are very small, specialized, and run by family members. Unlike in the U.S., where you need an expensive storefront and tens of thousands of dollars worth of inventory, somebody in India can launch a small, informal retail shop with a relatively small amount of money. That start-up capital can easily be provided with microfinance. Take the case of a young jewelry maker named Gulab, who has a talent for putting together beautiful necklaces. Never having finished high school, she was sent to work by her parents early on in a bidi factory, rolling the small, hand-rolled cigarettes in a tiny factory for less than a hundred rupees a day, to help support her family. The factory was actually one small room in the upstairs portion of an apartment building in Kolkata, where some twenty young people labored for ten hours a day in the stifling heat, with just one ancient electric fan to cool the entire room. When the boss wasnt looking one day, she started folding the cigarette papers into elaborate shapes and chaining them together into necklaces. She was caught, and was beaten for her troublebut the necklace was a thing of beauty. She had a talent and an eye for design. She never made jewelry out of the cigarette papers again, but whenever she could get her hands on a few beads, she would save them in a tin box, and when it was full, she would beg her mother for a spool of thread, and string them together in wonderful patterns. One day she got up enough courage to offer one of her necklaces to a tourist that was wandering through the village, and she was presented with two American dollarsalmost a full days wages at the bidi factory! She was uneducated, but smart enough to know where her future would be, if only she could get enough money to invest in some beads and a small push cart. When she heard of a microfinance opportunity from some of the village elders, she got some help in applying, and was fortunate enough to be able to make her plea in person and show her talent with some attractive hand-made jewelry. With an initial microfinance investment of 4,500 rupees about US$100 she was able to get everything she needed. She was able to pay back the loan in just a few months, and today is enjoying her new life as a jewelry vendor. And shes set a new goal for herselfshe wants to save up for a motorbike!

Keeping a secret can be tough you want to share it with someone, but once you do, it stops being a secret. However, the secret we have is worth telling, because its going to help every member of Club Asteria who takes advantage of it! Our latest secret is that weve teamed up with internet marketer Nate Bloom, whos going to show our Gold Members how to earn additional income. As the owner of Auto Marketing Pros, Nate is an experienced leader in internet marketing, and his secret is showing you how to take advantage of our Affiliate Program. This program rewards members who refer their friends and business associates to Club Asteria when that person becomes a member, you receive a monthly financial reward!

You can join Nates growing group of successful followers by visiting this Facebook page and completing the online form. Please remember that you first have to be a Gold Level member of Club Asteria. Once youre signed up, youll have access to Nates personal coaching, training videos and other resources. Hell hand you tips, tricks and strategies that unlock the door to success with Club Asteria! Were happy to be partnering with Nate Bloom, and his resources and experiences are going to help out Club Asteria members who are interested in succeeding. The extra income you generate with Nates guidance will improve the lives of your family members, friends and members of the community.