Person-to-Person Microfinance: It’s Good News for Everyone
A message from ACCION USA president and CEO Gina Harman
This morning, when Kiva.org opened it’s person-to-person lending platform to U.S.-based businesses, the Governor and First Lady of California were up, poised to be the first Kiva lender to make a loan to an American small business. Word has it that an earlier riser in New York City beat them to it, but regardless, that’s good for the borrower, and good for the state of California where healthy businesses, tax revenue and job creation must be high on the list of priorities.
That’s also good news for the rest of the country. There isn’t a Main Street in America that doesn’t need access to capital and lenders willing to provide it. That’s where Kiva.org and ACCION USA’s new partnership comes in. We don’t need a map to find Main Street, and lending is always on our minds. And now, microloans are available to U.S. entrepreneurs through an expert: Kiva.org . Kiva’s foray into U.S. microfinance will build awareness and provide those who want to invest in our economy a way to do that with nearly instant gratification. Kiva gives microentrepreneurs here in the U.S. a face, a name, and a chance to tell their stories. And nothing makes people believe in the power of lending a hand better than real life stories.
Lots of ACCION USA clients tell us they feel invisible because the banks won’t see them or the opportunity that a loan will create. Sometimes we at ACCION USA feel invisible too. We have been refining and improving the microfinance model since the early 1990’s but getting little credit for doing so successfully here in the U.S. Kiva will help put ACCION USA in the spotlight, too. And lenders will become microfinance advocates, spreading the word that there are organizations where the lending doors are open faster and farther than ever. From lender to borrower, we expect that this partnership will help those who need the help of ACCION USA find us. For that we are truly hopeful and grateful.
It is a great day when the stories of two dozen U.S.-based microentrepreneurs generate investments from thousands around the world ready to see their dollars help a business survive and grow. It is a great day for ACCION USA when it can partner with a leader in its industry.