Opportunity Fund was an early pioneer of microlending in the United States. Stanford MBA graduate Eric Weaver launched the organization in the early 1990s as a way to create economic opportunities for people who are typically excluded from the financial system because of poverty, race or gender.
A study of Opportunity Fund’s economic impact completed by the independent consulting firm TXP confirms that each loan disbursed by the organization creates an average of 2.4 jobs and has a positive net effect on the local economy. Put simply, every dollar lent by the organization generates twice its value in total annual economic activity. The study also found that over the last 15 years, $13.3 million in loans has spurred $22.2 million in economic activity, created $6 million in new annual wage earnings and generated $1 million in annual state and local tax revenue.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s small beans. The study acknowledges that most of those economic benefits occur over many years after a loan is disbursed, and probably aren’t immediately or directly felt by most members of the community.
But the investment’s impact is felt deeply and immediately by the business owners who receive the loan and the employees they are able to hire as a result.
8 Nov 2011 / 0 notes
