Sharing New Evidence: How Crowdfunding Debt Financing Benefits Financially Excluded Micro-Enterprises in the US

Businesses with five or fewer employees make up 56% of the firms in America and are in critical need of affordable financing. This is especially true among entrepreneurs of color, who face significant barriers to accessing capital. This session will share new evidence from 60 Decibels that sheds light on the financial needs and barriers that US micro-enterprises face and how crowdfunding debt financing has provided an innovative and effective way to increase business incomes and climb the capital ladder. The session will demonstrate how crowdfunded loans through Kiva’s platform create change for micro-enterprises, the vast majority of which are BIPOC-owned, and how the loans help to increase their confidence in obtaining business financing in the future from formal providers. This new evidence also reveals that partnering with local ‘hubs’ is critical in getting more BIPOC-owned businesses to apply for financing and enables those businesses to experience better financial outcomes after receiving funding.