Source: CSRwire
Original article available here.
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, April 6 – MicroPlace has announced the launch of the first microfinance investment opportunity that offers a 6% annual return for everyday investors. This investment offering comes at a time when Americans are examining the best ways to use their tax refunds in a tough economy. The 6% investment comes on the heels of two additional noteworthy microfinance investment opportunities: a 5% security offered by MicroCredit Enterprises that launched in March 2009 and sold out in less than 2 months; and an investment allowing investors to get their money back anytime offered by Oikocredit that is still available on MicroPlace.
The 6% investment available on MicroPlace is offered by Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN), a non-profit entity that funds small loans to low-income Latin American entrepreneurs and small-scale farmers. The WCCN’s loan fund project, the Nicaraguan Credit Alternatives Fund, is currently lending over US$8 million to 15 Nicaraguan microfinance partner agencies that specialize in providing financial services to enterprises owned by low-income Nicaraguans.
About MicroPlace (an eBay Inc. company)
MicroPlace (www.microplace.com), launched in 2007, is a website that enables everyday people to invest in the world’s working poor. This online investment site, whose mission is to alleviate global poverty, facilitates investments in microfinance that have proven to be an effective way of transforming people on the margins of society into economically productive individuals. MicroPlace is championing a model that fuses people’s instincts to be philanthropic with the efficacy of investing to raise microfinance capital. To date, microfinance has enabled a billion people to lift themselves out of poverty. MicroPlace aims to extend microfinance’s helping hand to the next billion people working in poverty– one investment at a time.
About eBay Inc.
Founded in 1995, eBay Inc. connects hundreds of millions of people around the world every day, empowering them to explore new opportunities and innovate together. eBay Inc. does this by providing the Internet platforms of choice for global commerce, payments and communications. Building on this positive foundation, eBay Global Citizenship was formed to harness the capabilities that underlie our core businesses to further our ability to be a “force for good.” Our citizenship portfolio includes the eBay Green Team, the eBay Foundation, and our ventures for social good – eBay Giving Works, MicroPlace, and WorldofGood.com by eBay.
About Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN)
WCCN, formerly the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization based in Madison, WI. Utilizing the powerful tool of microcredit, WCCN provide low-income Latin American entrepreneurs and small-scale farmers access to financing. Microcredit borrowers use their loans to start and/or grow their operations and ultimately work their way out of poverty. WCCN’s socially responsible investors enable microcredit lending while receiving financial and social returns.
Because WCCN believes in taking a holistic approach to poverty alleviation, it also works to promote fair trade, women’s empowerment, and housing improvement initiatives while fostering greater understanding, goodwill, and peace through people-to-people exchanges.
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