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Partner description:

Co-founded by Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, Yunus Social Business (YSB) is the international implementation arm for social business, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. YSB's main activity involves setting up Social Business Incubator Funds in developing countries to kickstart social business entrepreneurship.

An Incubator Fund consists of an incubator, which searches for social business entrepreneurs, trains them, helps them improve their business plans, and provides post-investment support; and a fund, which provides debt and equity financing to these social businesses. YSB currently operates in Haiti, Albania, Tunisia, Uganda, Colombia, Brazil, and India. 

YSB’s major goals are to:

1) Create livelihoods and employment opportunities in vulnerable and underserved communities by supporting market-orientated and self-sustainable social businesses that are designed to address a pressing social need.

2) Provide financing and incubation services to social businesses through the Social Business Incubator Funds model.

3) Address pressing social, economic and environmental problems faced by the community by providing a means for the local people to help themselves.

A Social Business is a company created for social benefit rather than private profit. Like an NGO, it has a social or environmental mission, but like a business, it generates its own revenues to cover its costs. Investors may recoup their initial investment, but all further profits are reinvested for growth and innovation, or to seed new social business ventures. After creating more than 40 successful social businesses in Bangladesh, Professor Yunus set up YSB in order to introduce the concept of social business around the world.

Together, Kiva and YSB will focus on providing loans for social businesses. Businesses that help provide employment opportunities to young people, encourage entrepreneurship, empower women, and stimulate economic activity outside of urban areas are prioritized.

YSB is raising funds for its social businesses on Kiva. Because large amounts of credit are required, some social business loans will be raised only partially on Kiva, with the rest of the money coming from other investors in YSB.

Support YSB and its borrowers by joining the YSB lending team today!