The first entrepreneur profile from Colombia went live on the optinnow.org site today, translated by yours truly. Even though it's such a small and insignificant thing, it really moved me to see it there, for all the world to see, with $25 dollars already donated.
Her name is Celandia Manijo Santos, she has five children, and is asking for a loan of $425 to expand her meat-selling business. She is part of a Trust Group called Manos Amigos (Friendly Hands), whose members not only mutually insure each other's loans, but also provide a supportive community to help her through hard times, both professional and personal.
Through participating in this program, Celandia will receive the funds she has requested to expand her business, which is well established, and also be automatically enrolled in life insurance, automatic deposits into a savings account in her name, and a training program to help her manage her financial obligations.
Here is a link to her profile: Celandia Manijo Santos
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3 comments:
i think this is awesome. period. keep up the great work, my friend.
Hey there,
I just stumbled across your blog (redirect from the OptInNow facebook page) and although I haven't fully explored it yet I thought I'd make a comment about something that catches my attention.
I've followed the launch of OptInNow on and off over the last year, mostly through the occasional email I scan or by checking out their homepage. The first time I saw the program I was a bit skeptical that it would really catch on, but I liked the idea. Besides, if it worked for Kiva, why not give it a shot?
What I noticed on your blog is that you helped list the first profile from Columbia- buen trabajo! But I checked the OptIn site and that loan is still less than 25% funded and it's been two weeks. Is this the norm? I compare this with Kiva where often times users fund loans so fast that Kiva runs out of loans!
I'll check out the rest of the blog now - Thanks!
I'm not really sure how optinnow's volume compares to Kiva, but I know Kiva is the frontrunner in this area. Actually I've heard that they helped us out in the beginning. I think if that is the case it would have to do with optinnow still being relatively new, and maybe also since it is a small part of a much bigger organization it doesn't receive as much focus.
Of course, there's also the fact that Kiva loans get repaid to their donors, whereas with optinnow the repayment goes back into other loans, so you could say that each completed loan on optinnow has a bigger impact.
But I think they're both great and find it encouraging that any competition within this "industry" only means more underserved entrepreneurs are being served!
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