MicroCredit Enterprises believes that global poverty exists, in large part, because people are opportunity-deprived. People are willing to work hard and make sacrifices to better themselves, and they have the industry and the intelligence to do so. Across the globe parents want the best for their children.

What the poor lack is opportunity. Microloans are one very effective way to provide that opportunity.

Ending savage poverty is both the right thing to do and in everyone's self-interest. Today, 18,000 children will die from malnutrition and/or starvation. If yesterday we had had the will and the humanity, those children would be alive tomorrow. Among the children who will die today could be another Gandhi or Galileo, a Socrates or Mother Teresa, a Thomas Jefferson or a Florence Nightingale. We will never know.

Reducing poverty requires healthcare, good schools, sanitation, safe roads, clean water and both micro- and macro-economic development programs. The special focus of MicroCredit Enterprises is using the tools of the marketplace to provide self-help opportunities for extremely poor families with the intent of avoiding long-term dependency on traditional aid or charity.

MicroCredit Enterprises is a pioneering private sector program that leverages private capital to provide small business loans to poor entrepreneurs in developing countries. The special focus is sustainable economic development for families living in extreme poverty ($1.00 per day or worse).

Creditworthy, locally-run and locally-controlled microfinance programs in developing countries make loans to poor people, mostly women. These women have no credit history, no collateral, no traditional legal loan guarantees to offer and no formal education. With microcredit loans, these women create and build home-based businesses (e.g., making soap, animal husbandry, weaving, etc.). New micro loans (for a 4 - 6 month term) can begin as low as $25.00 per poor borrower.

Microfinance is a proven international poverty reduction strategy. Poor women entrepreneurs have a reported loan repayment rate of 97% in well-managed microfinance programs. Yet fewer than one in five of the world's poorest households have access to financial services  a critical requirement for creating and growing cottage enterprises to feed and clothe themselves.

Despite the impressive loan repayment rate achieved by poor women borrowers, most mainstream banking institutions have historically shunned this market opportunity. On the other hand, MicroCredit Enterprises proudly "banks" on the intangibles of character, determination, grit and common sense.

MicroCredit Enterprises' economic development objective is long-term sustainability on three levels:

• Poor women entrepreneurs have already demonstrated that with a small amount of working capital, they can build successful small businesses and repay their loans while feeding their children. This achievement is remarkable enough, but in addition:
• Local microfinance institutions around the world have not only proven their creditworthiness, they have achieved operational self-sufficiency. This too is impressive, but in addition:
• MicroCredit Enterprises' non-profit business model is also sustainable, raising private sector capital in innovative ways and repaying its capital sources.

To learn more about the impact of microfinance, its global scale and its challenges, see Microfinance Overview. For more detailed information about the loan process, lending guidelines and microfinance institution criteria, see For Microfinance Institutions.

Because poor women do not have collateral or credit histories, MicroCredit Enterprises Guarantors  the key program benefactors -- pledge collateral assets and personal guarantees (not a donation or grant) to back a line of credit to MicroCredit Enterprises that is used to fund an overseas microfinance loan portfolio. Each $1 million guarantee (the minimum required) approximates to up to 5,000 new microcredit business loans feeding as many as 25,000 people in the developing world.

In the event of an overseas financial loss, each Guarantor bears the tax-deductible loss on an equitable, pro rata basis with all other Guarantors. At any one time, MicroCredit Enterprises borrows no more than 60% of a Guarantor's pledged assets or guarantee. Guarantors do not realize a return on the guarantee risk, but do maintain complete control of their assets, thus receiving all investment returns from their portfolios. The details are complicated and explained more fully at For Guarantors.

Important Disclaimer: Information provided on our website is not intended to be tax or legal advice. Please consult a qualified tax or legal advisor. It is also important to understand MicroCredit Enterprises is not a socially responsible investment fund or an investment of any kind. MicroCredit Enterprises is not operated as a profit-seeking venture for the benefit of any individual or institution.

MicroCredit Enterprises does not make charitable donations overseas, operate humanitarian relief programs or engage in advocacy or political work on behalf of disadvantaged populations. However, we deeply respect the many good organizations that do this sorely-needed work. MicroCredit Enterprises encourages you to research all the options for supporting and participating in poverty eradication. Some call these organizations our "fundraising competitors;" we call them our allies.

In the spirit of doing our part to alleviate poverty, MicroCredit Enterprises offers this website and its contents into the public domain for informational purposes. We do not claim any copyright to this website or its contents. See Copyright Waiver . If you are working to alleviate poverty in any capacity (as a concerned citizen of the world, an institution with a mission to end human suffering, an academic contributing to global understanding of microfinance or a social entrepreneur), permission to reproduce, use and distribute the documents posted on this website is granted.