Kiva St. Louis

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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

smiling black woman listening attentively

Register for VISION, the small business innovation symposium

This is the 5th Annual Vision Symposium. Vision is the region’s largest and ONLY inclusion innovation conference celebrating, educating, and supporting women, people of color, and immigrant emerging entrepreneurs and existing business owners.

Grinning black woman with short hair and glasses

Announcing the WEPOWER Accelerator!

Apply to the region’s only accelerator for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs of early-stage companies!

We celebrated our one-year anniversary last week!

Over these past twelve months, we have trained and supported 44 community members with developing new solutions and advocating for policy change for children in East St. Louis and St. Louis City.

St. Louis Founder La’Crassia Wilderness Wins Business Support Grant

Congratulations to La’Crassia Wilderness, founder of Butter Love by L.C. and winner of WEPOWER’s Dream of Change Entrepreneurship Survey drawing for a $1,500 business support grant!

WEPOWER Finalist for 2019 Camelback Ventures

We’re proud to be a finalist for the 2019 Camelback Ventures! We’re honored to be in company with wonderful thought leaders and creators.

BOA President Debate: Questions from the People

The BOA President is the second most powerful position in the city and helps to determine when and how the city’s dollars are spent. For that reason, it is important to convene a space for candidates to respond to real questions from their potential constituents.

WE Dare to Demand a Better St. Louis

This April 2018, 16 Black women from across North St. Louis City, of all ages and backgrounds convened to embark upon a journey of self-exploration and community change. None of them exactly knew what they were getting themselves into…

two Black women on stage seated in chairs talking to each other

Vision 2018

We co-hosted and sponsored this year’s Vision conference that brought together hundreds of St. Louis entrepreneurs interested in launching and scaling new ventures. We loved connecting with the participants at our booth!

painting of young Black student heading down road

Grounded in Hope

We will have the opportunity to vote for many important positions like state and U.S. Senators. In St. Louis city, where our Power-Builders are running GOTV canvasses and phone banks, the ballot includes candidates for the district’s elected school board.

Intro to Entrepreneurship

We are hosting three Intro to Entrepreneurship events with the Promise Zone to share resources and hear what community members in North city and county need most to launch and grow successful businesses. Space is still available!

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