By : JEAN TARBETT HARDIMAN
Source : http://www.herald-dispatch.com
Category : Small Business Garnt
HUNTINGTON -- Jessica Jackley, co-founder of the microlending website Kiva, will speak Monday at Marshall University.
Jackley will speak on "Love, Money and Work: Social Entrepreneurship as a Career" at 7:30 p.m. at the Erickson Alumni Center. The event, sponsored by the Honors College and the College of Business, is free to the public.
Kiva is a website through which users lend as little as $25 to poor entrepreneurs around the world. It was launched in 2005 and now channels $2 million every week to entrepreneurs in the world's poorest communities. It works with microfinance institutions on five continents to provide loans to people without access to traditional banking systems.
Lenders making optional donations are the primary source of funding, though it also raises funds through grants, corporate sponsors and foundations.
Locally, there have been efforts by CAFE Huntington to provide matching mini grants to help small business owners meet smaller needs for various projects. And Create Huntington has a matching grant program to provide professional development opportunities for small businesses.
On a statewide level, Vision Shared aims to find more programs like these. It aims to nurture a vibrant entrepreneurial presence in West Virginia to create diverse economic growth, and that needs to start at the grassroots level, said its president, Rebecca Randolph.
Vision Shared has formed a committee dedicated to finding ways of helping small business owners thrive.
"Sometimes, it's not hundreds of thousands of dollars people need, it's ...just a place where they can make a small investment to start a business," she said.
"Huntington is in many ways leading the charge with some innovative programming at the community level," Randolph said. "One of the things we think is very important to growing the entrepreneur base in the state is to look at what works in the communities and provide models for other communities with similar opportunities and demographics."
Unlimited Future Inc. In Huntington is starting an Entrepreneur's Cafe beginning at lunchtime April 18 at the Cabell County Library. Modeled after CAFE Huntington, it will give local entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their ideas to a group, and then participants vote on the best and microgrants will be handed out to the winning entrepreneurs.
Randolph added that there's a website called kickstarter.com, through which entrepreneurs can present a business plan online and folks can support it.
"They can make a contribution to your efforts," Randolph said. "There are some great things happening $5 or $10 at a time through these campaigns. We are just really starting to explore these types of options."
Along with Kiva, Jackley co-founded and runs ProFounder, a platform providing new ways for small business entrepreneurs in the U.S. to access startup capital through crowdfunding and community involvement.
She's now a visiting practitioner at Stanford's Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, has taught Global Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, and she lectures frequently at other universities around the country.
"She is an inspiring, young entrepreneur who offers a strong message and model of service and leadership," Mary Todd, dean of Marshall's Honors College, said in a press release. "We are delighted to provide a forum for such a creative and energetic speaker."
Jackley is the recipient of the 2012 Symons Innovator Award, which recognizes the importance of women's participation in technology innovation and business. She received USA Networks' Character approved award in 2010.
Visit www.kiva.org for more information.
The event Monday is the Harry and Betty Wolfe Lecture, serving for the first time as a convocation for students in the Honors College's new Second-Year Seminar in Leadership, Ethics and Civic Engagement.
Source : http://www.herald-dispatch.com/business/x1556329453/Marshall-to-host-Kiva-co-founder-as-speaker
