Good morning, CAMEO members and friends! As you may have heard, CAMEO has launched a collaboration with Kiva to increase crowdfunded microloans in California. Three CAMEO members — Accion San Diego, Opportunity Fund and Valley Economic Development Center — are already certified Kiva lenders, and now Fresno CDFI, Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment (PACE) and Working Solutions have joined. Each Monday, we’ll be highlighting the loans our members are currently funding here on microbiz.org. If you’re interested in supporting any of the following loans, simply click on the links provided, and Kiva will handle the rest. Don’t forget to join the CAMEO lending team first!
So how does the program work? CAMEO provides training and best practices support to its member partners, offering services such as internal process development for the Kiva platform, writing assistance for borrower profiles and press outreach.
Collaboration members are given a $200,000 credit limit, and commit to a fund at least two loans (of up to $10,000) per month in exchange for CAMEO’s support. The target market is borrowers who need a little capital to start their businesses, but are locked out of traditional funding sources due to a lack of collateral or credit history. CAMEO-Kiva members are able to provide business assistance to their borrowers while simultaneously providing a small loan at a low interest rate; this one-two punch of training and capital helps ensure that borrowers are able to sustain their business and re-pay their loan.
You can find out more about the project on our website here. If you’re interested in becoming a member of the CAMEO-Kiva collaboration, contact Susan Brown for more information.
Carlos – Working Solutions
A loan of $6,725 helps Carlos to purchase equipment for his shopping cart maintenance business.
“There are so many opportunities in America,” says Carlos. In 2010, Carlos moved from Peru to the United States with nothing but a piece of luggage and dreams to better his life. He came to America to study mechanics but could not find a job in his field and began working in a grocery store. (Read more…)
Christina – Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment
A loan of $10,000 helps Christina to transform a van into a mobile pet grooming facility.
Christina was born in Japan and moved to the U.S. when she was 4 years old. She has always loved animals, and she started rescuing kittens and cats when she was a teenager. Her dream is to become a veterinarian. (Read more…)
Calvin – Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment
A loan of $9,600 helps Calvin to hire two part-time editors and two sales reps; also upgrade the desktop computer he uses to produce the magazine and obtain up-to-date software.
Calvin was born and raised in the city of Los Angeles. He started working at the age of 14 with the Los Angeles Times newspaper company as a paperboy. Calvin said, “My childhood life consisted of school, sports and working my paper route for the Los Angeles Times, which is a local newspaper in the greater Los Angeles area.” As a child, Calvin always dreamed of owning his own newspaper/magazine. (Read more…)
Simon – Fresno CDFI
A loan of $2,000 helps Simon to move to a larger location with more foot traffic.
Simon has been engaged with Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (parent agency to Fresno CDFI) since he was 13 years old, when as a freshman in high school he joined an EOC after-school work program that helped him make ends meet for his mom, who was unemployed at the time. He worked for Goodwill and then attended summer school through the program, which allowed him to graduate a year early and, as he says, “kept me out of a whole lot of trouble.” (Read more…)