OREANDA-NEWS. March 01, 2016. Representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the U.S. State Department, and Kiva.org gathered today to announce the launch of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund. Seeking to empower women as entrepreneurs, breadwinners, and leaders, the Fund is aimed at harnessing the untapped economic potential of women entrepreneurs and addressing the barriers they face in accessing finance.

Over the course of five years, the Fund will aim to crowdfund loans to one million women entrepreneurs through this unique partnership, matching dollar-for-dollar what Kiva’s lenders provide on Kiva.org. The Fund will enable women entrepreneurs to access loans from \\$450 to \\$100,000, and is expected to leverage Kiva’s crowdfunded, risk tolerant, and socially connected capital to help finance the design and delivery of flexible loan products that are tailored to businesswomen’s needs.

The new partnership taps into Kiva’s standing as the first and largest crowdfunding platform in the world,with 1.4 million individuals lending to 1.8 million borrowers in 83 countries.The U.S. Department of State will contribute through investments in data collection and analysis to measure the Fund’s effectiveness in expanding access to finance for women entrepreneurs and in finding insights on financial needs and activity of women entrepreneurs.

The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the IDB Group, has established more than 70 seed and venture capital funds throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Providing strategic guidance and financing to early-stage equity companies active in a variety of sectors, the MIF works to help these small enterprises achieve scale. In 2012, the MIF and the IDB Group launched the Women’s Economic Empowermentand women entrepreneurship Banking initiatives (weB), both geared toward improving access to financing by women-led businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean.

About the Inter-American Development Bank

The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source oflong-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean.The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region.The Multilateral Investment Fund is the innovation lab for the Inter-American Development Bank Group. It conducts high-risk experiments to test new models for engaging and inspiring the private sector to solve economic development problems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The MIF addresses poverty and vulnerability by focusing on small and medium-sized businesses and smallholder farmers with the capacity to grow and create economic opportunities.