e sse nt i al community
Shaun, The Baked Lab
greater madison Established as the world’s first personal microlending website, Kiva began lending to a handful of fishmongers in eastern Uganda in 2005. Kiva’s platform enables everyday people to pool lending contributions to provide financial access in the form of crowdsourced loans. Kiva’s model garnered worldwide recognition and accolades. In 2011, The Economist honored Kiva with their Innovation Award. Following their international success, Kiva tailored its model to tackle financial exclusion and provide support to entrepreneurs in the United States. Kiva provides 0 percent interest business nanoloans of up to $15,000. Kiva’s average loan size is $6,000. Kiva realized that there was a gap in the U.S. financial market for small-business
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Dreams Are Universal, Opportunity Is Not by Michelle Sherbinow
loans—a gap often filled by predatory lenders and credit cards, which all carry high interest rates and fees. In conjunction with a small loan size, Kiva loans remove barriers that prevent many small-business owners from receiving a loan. Kiva does this by using their own system of underwriting, social underwriting, to determine the creditworthiness of a borrower. Through social underwriting, Kiva will never reject an entrepreneur because of their credit, net worth, or years in business and doesn’t have a collateral requirement. By removing these barriers, Kiva helps small entrepreneurs access capital and make better lives for themselves. Since its beginning, Kiva U.S. has facilitated the crowdfunding of $29 million from 230,000 lenders to 5,500 borrowers. In 2015, Wendy Baumann, president and chief visionary officer of Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation
