Manulife boosts funds for microentrepreneurs

MANILA  -Multinational financial services provider Manulife Financial Corp. on Wednesday announced a partnership with nonprofit Kiva to provide a funding boost for microentrepreneurs in the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam through a $1-million investment over three years.

Manulife said that through this commitment, Kiva would be able to increase the volume of entrepreneurs who can access microfinancing across emerging markets in Asia and around the world.

“This commitment underscores the power of blended finance in helping us reach underserved individuals and communities in key emerging markets in Asia,” said Manulife global chief sustainability officer Sarah Chapman.

“As this partnership unfolds, we look forward to better engaging our customers, agents, colleagues, and all our stakeholders through inspiring local activation campaigns across the region,” she added.

Manulife will provide capital to microentrepreneurs and underserved communities on Kiva’s crowdfunding platform, citing this as a simple way to distribute funds quickly and open opportunities for individuals and communities without traditional access to financial services.

Once the loans are repaid, the funds will return to Manulife’s Match Fund and will be distributed to other microentrepreneurs.

As a revolving fund with Kiva, it will help in increasing the total funding available and accelerating the speed of funding loans for entrepreneurs according to Manulife.

Further, Manulife said the partnership would be launched in three phases during the period, with local activation campaigns targeting different markets, sectors and causes.