Partnership Programs
NAWBO SF Bay Area & Kiva Zip
Expanding Financial Access to Women Entrepreneurs
Kiva is a non-profit based in San Francisco that helps entrepreneurs crowdfund the capital they need to start and grow their business. Since launching in 2005, over 1 million lenders have crowd-funded over $490 million in loans to people in 73 different countries. Their work is focused in the developing world, but recently Kiva launched a pilot in the United States called Kiva Zip.
Kiva Zip supports entrepreneurs in the US who could benefit from a 0% interest loan up to $5,000. This program aims to support social entrepreneurship and address financial exclusion that many small businesses face in the United States. Through the Kiva Zip website, people from all over the world can lend directly to borrowers in shares as small as $25.
A few points on the program:
- The Kiva Zip program can help you find customers and brand ambassadors. This is a crowd-funding website, so borrowers are funded by individual lenders around the world. It’s a great way to promote your business and put your story out there.
- 98% of the businesses on Kiva Zip have fully funded. The program is still young, but it has supported over 400 businesses across the country in the past 18 months.
- These loans are at a 0% interest rate with no fees. They can be paid back between 10-24 months and have optional grace periods for startups. Once you repay the first loan (up to $5,000) you can then take out larger loans of $10,000 and then $20,000.
- You can use these loans for any business purpose.
- Anna used her first loan of $5,000 loan to purchase a used van so she could cater bigger events for her Peroshki business. She used her second loan of $25,000 to open a second piroshki kiosk.
- Cynthia used her loan of $5,000 to boost her marketing effort by hiring staff and purchasing web tools and equipment for her web consulting business.
- Feleciai used her first loan of $5,000 to improve her marketing strategy for her skincare products and prepay five big festivals. She used her second loan of $15,000 to increase production and hire a part-time employee.
To learn more about Kiva Zip, you can reference this overview of the program or see their 1-pager.
If Kiva Zip sounds like it could be a solution for you or a woman entrepreneur you know, please complete this short survey in order to be contacted by a member of Kiva Zip. Support a woman entrepreneur by making a loan!
If you have any questions, please send an email to ContactZip@kiva.org.