Liz Blase & Jessica Lee
Liz is the Fundraising Associate at Wokai's San Francisco Chapter and worked on business development with Wokai during the Fall of 2008 in Beijing. Jessica is the Business Strategy Associate at Wokai's San Francisco Chapter.
Riddle me this:
If someone gave you a kit with 27 gumballs and $27, how would you turn that into $500 in just one week?
Our answer:
Ask the next college team to win the Gumball Challenge sponsored by our newest supporter: Gumball Capital.
In their words:
“Gumball Capital is a nonprofit that gets college students inspired, educated, and involved in fighting poverty through entrepreneurship. Every year, we sponsor a one-week microfinance-benefit competition, the Gumball Challenge where students create value from kits of $27 and 27 gumballs.”
The money that students raise through these competitions fund microloans to low-income entrepreneurs through Gumball Capital’s trusted partner organizations.
What does Gumball Capital look for in a partner organization?
• Commitment to microfinance;
• Effectiveness in reaching driven and deserving entrepreneurs; and
• Transparency in its use of Gumball Capital funds
Previously, only one organization (Kiva.org) met Gumball Capital’s transparency requirements for a strategic partnership. Gumball Capital has contributed over $7000 in microloan capital through Kiva since its inception in 2007.
Today, however, Wokai has risen to such a level of effectiveness and transparency to provide Gumball Capital with a new partnership opportunity. Similar to Kiva, Wokai’s web platform offers its users a menu of micro-entrepreneurs in rural China (and their projects) whom users can support for as low as $10. Wokai’s rigorous diligence process, conducted on all of Wokai’s Field Partners, who administer the microloans, ensures that every dollar of user contributions support the chosen projects. Wokai’s thorough monitoring of its Field Partners and close connection to its users enable Wokai to provide frequent updates to users about the progress and repayment of their generous contributions.
Wokai is very pleased about the new Gumball Capital-Wokai partnership. The partnership will allow Wokai to reach more micro-entrepreneurs throughout Sichuan and Inner Mongolia. Additionally Wokai hopes to further the mission of Gumball Capital: “to engage students in entrepreneurship for social change through microfinance.”
Wokai would like to thank the Gates Scholars Society for facilitating the connection between Gumball Capital and Wokai.
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