Small Business Finance News
Clinton Global Initiative Project To Make Domestic Small Business Loans
Written by Jenna Weiner
Published: 6/29/2011
Clinton Global Initiative turns it attention to growing domestic small businesses.
There was good news for entrepreneurs coming out of the June 29 opening session of the Clinton Global Initiative America event in Chicago, Illinois.
Former president Bill Clinton specified that $3.5 million in small business loans will be dispersed thanks to commitments made by participants in the event, which marks the first time CGI has focused exclusively on domestic economic growth.
During the event's opening plenary session, representatives of Kiva announced the Kiva City initiative. Detroit will be the first of these Kiva Cities, where the microlending institution will work with civic leaders and local corporations to make microloans to small businesses in need. A $1 million contribution from Visa will bankroll this initiative at the outset.
Among other initiatives already announced, Onshore Technology Services will create 1,000 IT jobs in rural Missouri by 2016, including in the tornado-devastated town of Joplin.
Scheduled opening day sessions included working groups on the healthcare workforce, startups and workforce development.
According to a University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Management article published online on June 17, there are currently 362 microfinance lending institutions in the United States. Citing data from the Microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning and Dissemination, the Wharton article states these institutions loaned about $100 million to U.S. small businesses in 2008.
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