We read with interest the latest news development from October 24 regarding the new partnership between E Bay and the Calvert Foundation, an award winning social investment foundation. The press release below describes the launch of a new web site that addresses global poverty.
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MicroPlace, a wholly-owned subsidiary of eBay Inc., recently announced the launch of a new website (www.microplace.com) that provides an easy way for everyday people to invest in the world’s working poor by leveraging the power of microfinance, a proven solution to alleviate global poverty. With the launch of MicroPlace.com, consumers in the US can use the internet to make microfinance investments that simultaneously provide a financial return while addressing global poverty. Additionally, MicroPlace’s unique business model creates a self-sustaining marketplace that will serve as an efficient and scalable way for capital to flow into the microfinance industry.
“MicroPlace now offers an easy way for the everyday investor to participate in microfinance; receive a return on their investment; and empower the working poor to lift themselves from poverty,” said Tracey Pettengill Turner, Founder and General Manager of MicroPlace.
Through MicroPlace’s secure platform, everyday people can purchase investments – for as little as $100 – from microfinance security issuers. MicroPlace also enables investors to direct the impact of their investment to a specific country and microfinance institution in the developing world. The microfinance institutions use the funds to make small loans to the working poor, who in turn use the loans to start or expand small businesses and lift themselves out of poverty.
At launch, MicroPlace will offer investment opportunities from around the world, including Africa, Eurasia, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Individuals can visit www.microplace.com to research investment opportunities, make investments, and learn more about microfinance and global poverty. Investments can be purchased using PayPal or a checking account at a US bank. As a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA (formerly NASD), MicroPlace is currently the only broker-dealer specializing in microfinance securities for retail investors.
Working with an industry-leading security issuer MicroPlace has selected Calvert Social Investment Foundation – a leader in community investment that manages investments for over 2,500 individuals and institutions seeking to support communities around the world through their portfolios – as the first issuer to sell investments on MicroPlace. Calvert Foundation will use the funds generated from the sale of securities on MicroPlace to invest in microfinance institutions targeted by investors online. Calvert Foundation will also be responsible for making interest and principal payments to investors.
“Calvert Foundation has been working hard for over 10 years to mobilize individual investor capital to support microfinance,” said Shari Berenbach, executive director of Calvert Foundation. “Working with MicroPlace gives us the opportunity to offer microfinance investments for as little as $100 for the first time. We believe this will enable more individuals to invest in microfinance and help grow the industry as a whole to significantly improve the lives of the working poor around the world.”
Understanding the demand and power of microfinance Microfinance is the provision of financial services to the working poor, primarily in developing countries. Widely recognized as an effective tool against poverty, the most common microfinance service is the provision of small loans – often as low as $50 – to enable the working poor to lift themselves from poverty through their own hard work and entrepreneurial spirit.
Today, 1.3 billion of the world’s working poor live below the international poverty line, earning less than US. $2 a day. Since the inception of microfinance in 1974, more than 100 million people – the majority of them women - have borrowed microfinance loans with historic repayment rates averaging 97 percent. It is estimated that about 500 million people run microbusinesses, yet fewer than 10 million of these people – or about 2.5 percent – are able to obtain loans from banks or traditional lending institutions. To satisfy this demand, the microfinance industry will need substantial amounts of additional investment capital. By providing access to everyday investors in the US, MicroPlace has opened up a substantial new channel to acquire the investment capital the industry needs to grow.
ABOUT CALVERT FOUNDATION
Calvert Social Investment Foundation ( http://www.calvertfoundation.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that uses the power of investment to channel affordable credit to underserved communities, working to end poverty by creating hope and economic opportunity where it is needed most. Individuals and institutions provide investment capital to Calvert Foundation, which utilizes industry leading due diligence to actively manage a diversified portfolio of high social impact investments in the US and abroad.
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What do you think of this unique investment program and have you tried it yet?
Treehugger, one of our favorite sources for green news, recently posted its 2007 Green Gift Guide. Categories include gifts for the epicurean, pet lovers, yogis, the person who has everything, the jet setter, new parents, the outdoors lover, and many more. There is also an excellent tips page on how to be more ecoconscious this holiday season, including replacing holiday lights with LED lights, buying cards made of recycled paper, getting your name deleted from catalog lists, using soy candles, and reducing your number of shopping trips as much as possible. They also encourage gifts of donations to organizations such as those listed below in lieu of the traditional fruitcake no one wants, or sweaters we already have. Happy Green Holidays!
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