Apples to Oranges? - InVenture and other Micro-Lending Sites

05/13/2011
We always get asked one major question:
 
“How does InVenture differ from other micro-lending platforms”
 
Though we get tired of the question - its a good one - and it means people are knowledgable and curious about this industry - and its not like they’re comparing apples to oranges ;-)


Our answer is — We’re very similar in that we have a online platform and that is peer-to-peer but that’s really where our similarities stop.
 
Our differences are —
 
1. InVenture is essentially a micro venture capital platform - we provide access to micro-investments through our peer-to-peer platform.

2. In addition to our financial product being different, we are also different because we also provide mentoring and hands on strategic guidance. InVenture Foundation fellows provide guidance to help businesses grow holistically. Our fellows work to create market linkages, provide access to information, and educate entrepreneurs on business and financial management. Entrepreneurs are also trained on how to track social performance metrics and make operational course corrections based on the findings to ensure that the business is meeting its established social goals.

3. Lastly, another key difference is that we also require all our micro-entrepreneurs to contribute a portion of their profit back into their communities.

We think these are pretty signifact differences and we also think this is what makes us different in a good way :) We believe that we all have to work together and without other sites and models out there - we wouldn’t be here. We’re all in this together and we all have to understand that not one solution alone will be the asnwer - so our differences make us more capable (in some sense!)
- Shivs