David Taliaferro of Access Ventures has been accepted as a Kiva Fellow, and will be instrumental in establishing Kiva Zip, Kiva’s newest platform, in the city of Louisville.
Access Ventures is partnering with Kiva to cover $100k of the $200k cost to establish Louisville as a Kiva City. David is the Director of Access Finance in charge of establishing Access Ventures’ micro-lending program for local startups and existing small businesses. In addition, Access Ventures is currently working on alternatives to predatory payday lending, a business plan competition for the fall of 2014, encouraging churches to become more involved in local economic development, and job training.
Kiva is a nonproft founded in 2005 that provides micro-loans in 73 countries around the world. Their traditional platform enables individuals to lend as little as $25 interest free to a borrower who uses the loan to start a small business. To date, over $500 million dollars have fowed through Kiva with an impressive 99% repayment rate.
Kiva fellowships are unpaid, and the application process is robust. Fellows are a diverse group of individuals from around the world. They are the “boots on the ground” working to strengthen partnerships and scale new initiatives for Kiva. Tis an exciting accomplishment for both David, Access, and the city of Louisville. After attending training at the Kiva headquarters in San Francisco in January, David will be working to create Kiva City Louisville by on-boarding the Kiva Trustees and Borrowers.
What does this fellowship mean for the region? Expanded financial opportunities and access for borrowers who otherwise lack them; reduced cost of capital for borrowers who need it; more opportunities for the average citizen to help finance micro-business within Louisville; and deeper connections between lenders within the region Such as Jewish Family & Career Services, Catholic Charities and others.
Access Ventures is a venture philanthropy that believes all people matter. Therefore, we offer a new alternative for channeling private capital to organizations, leaders, and ideas that have signifcant potential for high-impact within the community. We respond to complex community problems with holistic solutions by partnering with organizations and leaders to change the way we tackle the most pressing problems around us. With a layered and integrated capital approach, we are in a position to create tailored and appropriate funding strategies that meet a variety of needs for holistic restoration of communities along with propagating the principle belief that all lives have value and dignity.
