In honor of last week being Microfinance Week (I might be a little behind here…), I want to dedicate this post to the fastest rising movement in the US for microfinancing: Oikocredit USA.
The movement officially launched Tuesday evening (the launch party here in Seattle was quite an awesome ordeal!) and the quick increase in support and investments since that has been both encouraging and inspiring.
Microfinancing is in essence supporting people with little to no opportunities or resources, but filled with ambition, by lending them the financial resources to step out of poverty and create jobs and opportunities for themselves and their communities.
There are several big microfinancing organizations out there, why plug Oikocredit?
Oikocredit believes in supporting these entrepreneurs more than just financially. They are completely dedicated to providing the necessary business services to help build a successful infrastructure in these impoverish communities.
Oikocredit is not only interested in fighting poverty, but is also committed to promoting fair trade and respecting our planet’s natural resources. In fact, Oikocredit requires the borrowers to follow strict fair trade and environment friendly guidelines in order to keep their loans. They also offer lower interest rates to the borrowers who go above and beyond these guidelines.
Most of all, it’s not a handout. The money and services that go to these entrepreneurs are empowering marginalized people to become self-sufficient.
And, you get your money back, plus some, and a higher success rate than the average small business loan. I’m not seeing a downside here. (oh! And you don’t have to invest thousands, all levels of involvement are acceptable!)
For more indepth info about Oikocredit:
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You answered the important questions, but the one that will continue to persist is why is it named Oikocredit?
Comment by Antman — January 15, 2010 #
Our name embodies our core value: belief in people. In ancient Greek, oikos means house, community or world – the places where people live together. Credit obviously refers to our financial operations, but the word derives from credere, to believe.
At Oikocredit, our central belief is in the power of households and communities to build a better world by lifting themselves out of poverty.
Comment by Antman — January 15, 2010 #
Great company, daft name.
How are you doing Tiger, long time.
Comment by Jonny | thelifething.com — January 16, 2010 #
@antman – Thanks for answering your own question before I could get to it!
@jonny – I’m fab. Thank you! Glad to see you’re stopping by again
Comment by Kristin — January 16, 2010 #