July - 2013 - issue > In Focus

Premal Shah Honored as Crowdfunding Champion of Change

SI Team

Monday, July 1, 2013

Forward

The President and Co-Founder of Kiva.org, Premal Shah, an Indian American was honored as Crowdfunding Champion of Change at a recent event at the White House. The Champions event focused on entrepreneurs who exemplify the promise of crowdfunding to fuel the growth of startups, small businesses, and innovative projects across the nation.

Donation-based crowdfunding has already empowered many entrepreneurs, while investment-based crowdfunding platforms will soon be facilitated by the bipartisan Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which President Obama signed last year and the SEC will implement.

The Champions of Change program was created as an opportunity for the White House to feature groups of Americans—individuals, businesses and organizations—who are doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities.

Almost eight years ago, Kiva launched a global experiment to crowdfund microloans to help alleviate poverty and expand economic opportunity. It leveraged every new technology it could get its hands on to bring crowdfunding and microlending into the mainstream. Today, more than one million budding small business entrepreneurs in 30 American cities and 65 countries have received loans crowdfunded on Kiva.org.