Kiva St. Louis

Powered by WEPOWER

Zero Interest Loans For The People By The People

In partnership with Kiva, WEPOWER helps make capital more accessible to small business owners, particularly those who have been excluded by the mainstream financial system.

Entrepreneurs of color face direct discrimination and structural racism, resulting in less access to capital, compounding existing inequities and making it harder for communities of color to build generational wealth. Research has shown that Black entrepreneurs are rejected for loans at higher rates, on average approved for lower loan amounts, and charged higher average interest rates. It’s time to address these barriers.

Borrow Funds to Fuel Your Dreams

“Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.” – Tupac

Zero interest. Zero fees. Grace period. Access a loan between $1,000-$15,000. Kiva acts as a first-rung on an otherwise inaccessible financial ladder, creating an important new path to the financial mainstream.

Apply Here

Am I Eligible?

In order to receive a loan from Kiva, you must meet the following minimum eligibility criteria:

KIVA'S ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

You must be at least 18 years of age.
You must not currently be in foreclosure, bankruptcy, or under any liens.
You must not have a violent or financial criminal conviction in the last 5 years.
You must reside and operate your business in the United States.
Your business cannot be registered in the states of Nevada, North Dakota, or Vermont.
You must be seeking a loan for business purposes other than refinancing debt and purchasing stock or equity.
Your business must not be of a type deemed ineligible for a Kiva loan. Some examples are:
federally illegal activities (e.g. gambling, hemp-related products) businesses related to tobacco, pawn-shops, weapons, multi-level marketing, direct selling, cryptocurrencies, drones, or adult entertainment
You must have a PayPal account (that’s how you will receive and pay back your Kiva loan!)
You must be willing to demonstrate your social capital by having a small number of your friends, family, clients, and/or business partners make a loan as small as $25 to you

KIVA MAY BE RIGHT FOR YOU IF...

A loan of $1,000 to $15,000 will make a real impact by helping increase your business’ revenue or decrease expenses.
Willing to work with the Kiva Team: Borrowers who work closely with the Capital Access Manager (i.e business story, personal story, leveraging your own network for crowdfunding purposes, etc) are more likely to have success on the platform.
You’re willing to share your business story and personal story (2-3 paragraphs for each) to generate support.
You’re open to using technology (including email, Kiva’s online platform, and PayPal) with support from our team to get and repay an investment.
You have a strong profile picture: Easily identifiable borrower and business depiction. No need for a professional headshot, just one that is clear and eye-catching. See resource here. (link profile picture resource).
You have a network of people who will support you: Depending on the size of the loan, approved borrowers must recruit 5-40 people (often 5-15 people) from the community to lend $25 each to their profile in order for your campaign to go public.
You are open to starting smaller and building: based on their age of business or financials, some businesses start with small loans and then grow with Kiva.

Apply Here

Capital Access Manager, Edgar Payano, smiling

The Process

Learn more about the process below and reach out to Edgar, our Capital Access Manager, to learn more or get started. You can email Edgar at [email protected] or sign up for a time to talk 1:1 with him using the link below.

SUBMIT A LOAN APPLICATION (30-60 MIN.)

KIVA REVIEW (5-7 DAYS)

FUNDRAISING (1-45 DAYS)

Private: Borrowers / you invite your friends and family (5-25 people) to support your loan campaign by lending you as little as $25 in a 15 day Private Fundraising Period. This is NOT a donation.
Public: Borrowers / you have an additional 30 days to fundraise for the rest of their loan – from Kiva’s global community of 1.6 million lenders and an opportunity to leverage your current online presence. This is NOT a donation.
Kiva US borrowers have over a 95% chance of being fully funded

REPAYMENT (12-36 MONTHS)

Schedule Time with Edgar

Updates

Community Benefits Agreements emerge as top issue in Spring 2023 election cycle

February 20, 2023 Community Benefits Agreements emerge as top issue in Spring 2023 election cycle A new group of more than 100 residents, developers, business owners, philanthropists, and local organizations have announced the Community Wealth Action Group to advocate for community-owned wealth, quality jobs, and livable wages for Black and Latinx residents of St.…

BJC Makes Anchor Investment in WEPOWER Capital

January 24, 2023 BJC Makes Anchor Investment in WEPOWER Capital BJC’s anchor investment will go toward focused, revenue-based funding (RBF) investments in Black- and Latinx-owned businesses with strong growth trajectories. WEPOWER Capital works to ignite equitable economic growth and prosperity in St. Louis by building wealth in under-resourced communities. Today WEPOWER Capital announced…

What it Takes to Thrive: The Importance of Investing in Everyone

November 29, 2022 What it Takes to Thrive: The Importance of Investing in Everyone By: Amina Abdul-Malik “The conditions I saw growing up in North City just didn’t seem to reflect the beauty and intelligence I saw in the people around me.” -Amina Abdul-Malik I call it ‘Entrepreneur Brain.” It’s where your brain…

We Dream, We Build, We Win

November 29, 2022 We Dream, We Build, We Win If Harriet Tubman didn’t dream, if Dr. King didn’t dream, if Dolores Huerta didn’t dream-where would we be? Dreams are sacred and necessary. They reveal possibilities, and affirm the necessity to create a different future. Dreams allow us to unleash ourselves and our families from…

Meet WEPOWER’s Fall Cohort of Biz Owners!

November 16, 2022 MEET WEPOWER’S FALL COHORT OF BIZ OWNERS! We are SO HAPPY to share that we have welcomed our fourth cohort of amazing Black and Latinx founders to the WEPOWER family! Take time to get to know each company and checkout their products, services, and venues! Jamila Boone | Scene Event Space…

St. Louis County Council Votes to Allocate $5.6 Million in ARPA Funds to Improve Local Early Childhood Education

October 25, 2022 St. Louis County Council Votes to Allocate $5.6 Million in ARPA Funds to Improve Local Early Childhood Education The vote follows months of public testimony and advocacy from The Early Childhood Power & Policy Action Group members and supporters. After months of negotiations and hearings, the St. Louis County Council…

Protecting STL Children

October 24, 2022 Protecting STL Children On Monday, St. Louis experienced one of the greatest fears of our time: a school shooting. The Central Visual and Performing Arts High School community faced an active shooter situation which led to multiple deaths and injuries of students and educators and immeasurable collective trauma. As we…

WEPOWER Announces First Investment in St. Louis Startup, Bold Xchange

September 22, 2022 WEPOWER Announces First Investment in St. Louis Startup, Bold Xchange Today WEPOWER announced Bold Xchange was selected as the inaugural capital recipient from the organization’s $1.5 million dollar investment fund. The pilot fund offers targeted investment in companies owned by Black and Latinx entrepreneurs with a strong growth trajectory to ignite…

For Us, By Us, with Love

August 25, 2022 For Us, By Us, with Love By: Coral Bello-Martinez What drew me to work in education? I wanted to become the teacher that I had needed when I was in high school. I was born and raised in New York, and my middle school experience in Harlem was the best-like,…

We Have More Power Than We Recognize

August 4, 2022 We Have More Power Than We Recognize By: Jacqueline Person You don’t know what I’m going through, and at the same time I don’t necessarily know that you don’t know what I’m going through. It’s complex, right? There’s so many dynamics and intricate details that go along with people: why they…