Kiva

We couldn’t agree more! Lev Plaves, Kiva’s Investment Director, is spot on. The data speaks for itself: refugees repay Kiva loans at comparable rates to other borrowers. It’s time refugees were treated just like everyone else. We’re grateful to partners Barri Shorey and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation who help us further our work with refugee lens investing.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” We’re celebrating a successful partnership and collaboration with Extern ahead of the launch of Kiva’s inaugural Ambassador Community (stay tuned for more info on this 🥳)! Extern is an edtech company that creates, manages, and runs externship programs for its industry partners to bridge the gap between education and the workforce. With Extern, we worked with about 50 university students across the United States who provided Kiva with recommendations to improve our word-of-mouth marketing. This model provided invaluable experience for students and offered Kiva actionable insights to launch our Ambassador Community. We were inspired by the final presenters, whose innovative solutions aligned with our mission to bring financial access to communities worldwide. Cheers to a successful partnership! 🎉

In the US, entrepreneurs from systemically marginalized groups—communities that experience discrimination and exclusion due to systems of oppression—do not have equal access to the resources they need to thrive. At Kiva, we aim to increase financial inclusion of these entrepreneurs by providing interest-free loans and other resources. We’ve also been exploring an additional approach: the power of AI. AI tools can be an accessible resource to help entrepreneurs create engaging and relevant content across platforms. Here are a few ways to use ChatGPT to create content: • 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Brainstorming topics for blogs, social media posts, and newsletters. It can provide a fresh perspective and spark creativity. • 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘀: If you have a basic idea, ask ChatGPT to expand on it, conduct competitor or market research, or provide additional details to develop the concept further. • 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁𝘀: Writing drafts for various content types, including articles, social media posts, emails, product descriptions, and video and podcast scripts. • 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴: Reviewing and polishing drafts to improve clarity and tone, and suggesting or refining headlines and subject lines for better impact. • 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀: Creating and suggesting ideas for visual content like infographics or images. • 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Incorporating keywords and optimizing content for search engines, or suggesting meta descriptions and tags for better online visibility. ….and more. Kiva and OpenAI have teamed up to bring small business owners resources on using AI for their enterprises. Click the link in the comments to learn more.

Social enterprises are not only creating solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change, but are doing so in ways that directly support the people most impacted, like smallholder farmers, low-income families, and rural communities. But if social enterprises are at the forefront of climate solutions, why isn’t the funding following suit? Learn more in this edition of Vishal Ghotge's Rooted in Impact newsletter, featuring some amazing social enterprises that Kiva lenders have helped fund: Someone Somewhere, Kuli Kuli Foods and ATEC Global. #socialenterprise #climateaction #climatechange

Cheers to a great employee engagement campaign with The Fidelis Foundation! Together, we create impact 💥.

80% of millennials expect their employer to care about its societal impact. And without any engagement in what matters to them, employees tend to perform less, resulting in $1.9 trillion in lost productivity among US companies. This desire for alignment with shared values in today’s workforce makes cause-driven employee engagement not just a trend but a necessity. You can learn more about the benefits of employee engagement campaigns in the link in our comments.

While progress is being made in many areas regarding gender equality, the facts may surprise you: 🌍 Globally, women earn about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. The pay gap is larger for women of color, immigrant women, and mothers. 👶 Mothers and women of childbearing age with similar career experiences as men are often less likely to be hired or promoted. 😤 Women report higher rates of burnout, stress, and exhaustion compared to men in similar roles. Many companies implement diversity and inclusion measures in their hiring practices and human resources departments, but few can boast they've closed the gender gap. So what does true gender equality in the workplace look like? And what can you do to improve the situation in your organization? Take a look at these practical tips and let us know in the comments what other ways your organization is addressing gender equality 👇

Xiomara believes that beauty is far more than skin deep. ”We treat and see the human as a whole being. Beauty comes from inside out.” She owns a shop in Ecuador, serving facial and body treatments to clients of all ages. Xiomara holds a degree in nursing from the University of Venezuela and had begun a second career as an esthetician before migrating to Ecuador with her husband. They wanted to live closer to their daughter, son-in-law, and grandson, who left their home country to escape the dire economic and political climate. When Xiomara first arrived in Ecuador, she helped her husband, a baker, with his business. Everything was going well—until pancreatic cancer took their daughter’s life. And later, in 2020, Xiomara lost her husband to COVID-19. Through her extraordinary inner strength, Xiomara carried on. To make a living, she revived her esthetician business with a microloan from Kiva Field Partner CACMU. Xiomara intends to keep growing her business in Ecuador, helping people feel more beautiful. She has a message for other people like her: “I’d like to tell those people who are also migrants that they should not limit themselves or hold back in the face of adversity…I think that if we follow a good path, we’re going to achieve our goals.” Click the link in our comments to learn more about her story.

If you’re a founder who’s wondering how to make your small business stand out, this event is for you. Kiva’s Lyndsae' Peele, MBA, PMEC™, our US Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Manager, is speaking on a panel discussion for entrepreneurs. You’ll learn strategies to help your small business shine— even in saturated markets and industries. Tune in tomorrow, October 23, at 12 pm EDT for this special LinkedIn Live. Click “Attend” below to register:

🎉We’re thrilled to announce that Kiva is a finalist in 7 categories for the 2024 Anthem Awards. 🎉 The Anthem Awards celebrate purpose & mission-driven organizations, people, and companies worldwide. 🌍 Our community is an integral part of our work at Kiva, and now, you can help us win an Anthem Award. You can vote for Kiva to win in all of the following categories — see the comments for links to vote! You can vote until October 31st: