Kiva.org and Grameen-Jameel launch initiative to stimulate individual lending for microfinance

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Kiva and Grameen-Jameel Microfinance Ltd. have partnered to launch “Change is in Your Hands” campaign.

The campaign gives visitors to Kiva.org/MiddleEast the chance to open the borders of opportunity for entrepreneurs in the region and beyond. Through entrepreneurship, positive change is happening across the Middle East and in the region,” said Fady Jameel, Board Member of Grameen-Jameel Microfinance Ltd. “To amplify this change we need to further support the entrepreneurs, especially women and young people, who do not have access to capital and who face staggering unemployment rates.”

The campaign, “Change is in Your Hands,” enables individuals who want to help to look at giving in a new light. As part of the launch, Grameen-Jameel is offering up to 13,000 visitors to Kiva’s website a “free trial,” the equivalent of $25 to lend to the entrepreneur of their choice.

To double the campaign’s impact, Grameen-Jameel is also matching up to $665,000 in loans made by Kiva lenders. In total, Grameen-Jameel has committed $1 million to this campaign. Loans that meet both traditional and Islamic financing standards are available.

“Despite what is portrayed in current events in the Middle East, there are still families working to put food on the table, students going to school and single mothers starting businesses; hope for change and improvement is alive,” said Premal Shah, President and co-founder of Kiva.org. “Thanks to the internet, each of us is part of a global community and change is in all of our hands. A click at our fingertips can set in motion a ripple effect felt in the life of a person, a community, and an entire region.”

“Change is in Your Hands” will focus as a first step on lending to support entrepreneurship among women and youth in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, and Turkeywith the aim of alleviating poverty and creating jobs by empowering entrepreneurs.

Source: CPI Financial (link opens in a new window)

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Base of the Pyramid, impact investing, microfinance