Retrospect Offers Financial Support to Small Businesses Through Kiva.org

Retrospect, Inc. launched an initiative to offer financial support to small business in need through micro-finance organization Kiva.

The company launched their initiative at two ASCii Group SMB Success Summits in Toronto, Canada and Columbus, OH. Rather than offering promotional items to event attendees, Retrospect made a $5 donation toward micro loans for each attendee who stopped at their trade-show booth during the Success Summit events.

Through Kiva, that money was lent in sums of $25 to small business owners around the world to fulfill varying needs. Once loans are repaid, the money will be re-lent to other businesses.

Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, CA, with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, anyone can help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential.

“Every year we spend thousands of dollars on promotional items to give out at trade shows-pens, snack foods, etc.-things that are engaging, but don’t necessarily help anyone. I decided that this money could be put to be better use if we loaned it out through Kiva.org, and as a small business ourselves, we like that we can help to support other small businesses around the world,” said Retrospect’s director of WW marketing, Kristin Goedert. “This is a great way for us to make a huge impact not only in someone’s life, but in their community as well, since most of these businesses support a community. Plus I really like that a person attending a trade show in Columbus Ohio can help fulfill a $275 loan to a woman in India so that she can buy a buffalo just by stopping by a trade show booth to say ‘hi!’“

To date Retrospect has helped to fund 13 loans, including:

• A loan of $125 to a woman in Negros Oriental, Philippines for the purchase both fresh and dried fish to grow her fish selling business.
• A loan of $275 to a woman in Gujarat, India for the purchase of a buffalo to expand her animal husbandry business and add buffalo-based dairy products to her offerings.
• A loan of $2,500 to a man in Richmond, CA for the purchase of food service equipment for his catering business and to cover the cost of permits to sell food at local farmers markets.
• A loan of $1,100 to a man in Iganga, Uganda for the purchase of a water filtration system to provide clean drinking water for students at the Tim Tasha School in Bugumba, Iganga.

All of Retrospect’s loans can be viewed on their Kiva donor page.