PayPal Stories Archive

In 2005, PayPal alum Premal Shah co-founded Kiva.org with the mission to “connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.” Since that time, Kiva has enabled 1.4 million people to crowdfund $850 million in loans to nearly 1.9 million underserved entrepreneurs in 89 countries. PayPal’s long-standing collaboration with Kiva is grounded in our shared belief that all people deserve the opportunity to participate and thrive in global and local economies.

 

 

On Wednesday, the latest chapter of the Kiva/PayPal story unfolded here in San Jose, as we co-hosted an event on the PayPal campus to help Kiva announce that Kiva Zip will soon be coming to the San Jose area. A direct, peer-to-peer lending model, Kiva Zip allows people to make 0% interest loans for as little as $25 to small businesses that are at a critical stage in their development. More than 11,000 entrepreneurs across the U.S. have grown their businesses through a loan from Kiva’s global lending community, and we are honored to help bring those benefits to our local area. We were very pleased to welcome the mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo, staff from the Office of Economic Development, and representatives from various corporate giving programs and family foundations to our campus to celebrate this important milestone. 

 

 

Since taking office on January 1, 2015, Mayor Liccardo has spoken repeatedly about the importance of the small business community and he sees Kiva Zip as a great way to enable and empower entrepreneurs in the area. During his comments on stage, the Mayor spoke about the widening income gap in Silicon Valley and the pressure that is putting on families. While it’s a complicated problem without one clear solution, bringing Kiva Zip to the area is one way to address the issue and create new opportunities for families and communities.

 

Premal Shah echoed the Mayor’s sentiment in his comments, and highlighted the recent launch of Kiva Zip in the San Francisco and Oakland areas as a potential benchmark for San Jose. Those programs have already helped 450 small businesses, 65% of which are minority-owned and 55% of which are women-owned, raise more than $2 million since October. Kiva estimates that their national loan program has created 1.2 jobs per loan, and that for every $1 in loans granted $2.2 in economic activity has been created. Kiva is extremely excited to bring the Zip model to San Jose and looks forward to adding jobs and empowering local entrepreneurs to follow their dreams.

 

 

In addition to celebrating Kiva Zip and the long-standing collaboration with PayPal, the event was also an opportunity for Kiva to engage potential grant funders for the San Jose program. Julie Vennewitz-Pierce, from our Social Innovation team, announced that PayPal will be the first corporate funder for the program and shared our hope to be joined by other local companies and foundations soon.

 

We expect Kiva to be as successful in San Jose as it’s been in other parts of the country and the world and we look forward to supporting their mission for years to come. Congratulations to Kiva on another important step in fulfilling their mission, and to all of Kiva’s entrepreneurs, in Silicon Valley and beyond, who are creating new opportunities for themselves and their communities.