Lendwithcare is a microfinance lending website from the development charity CARE International UK.[1] Launched in September 2010, it allows individuals and groups to make small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries, and help them work their way out of poverty. It supports entrepreneurs in Cambodia, Togo, Benin, the Philippines, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vietnam and Ecuador through partner microfinance institutions (MFIs). It does not charge any interest on the loans made to entrepreneurs by supporters - the MFIs do.
By 2015, over 21,000 lenders loaned almost £6m to around 17,000 entrepreneurs.[2]
The process
Lendwithcare works with a number of partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the countries in which it operates. If the MFI is happy with an entrepreneur's idea or business plan, they approve the proposal and provide the initial loan requested. They also help the entrepreneur construct their profile for lendwithcare.org.
Lenders can browse the list of entrepreneurs on the website, read about their businesses, see the value of the loan they have requested, the percentage of the loan already provided by other lenders, and then choose an entrepreneur to lend to. Once the entrepreneur's loan is fully funded, the money is transferred to the MFI to replace the initial loan already paid out to the entrepreneur. During this process lenders receive progress updates regarding the entrepreneur's progress. The entrepreneur gradually pays back their loan according to a repayment schedule. The MFI transfers these repayments to CARE International who then credits the payment into lenders' lendwithcare.org accounts. Lenders can then either withdraw their money using a PayPal account or can use the credit to provide a loan to another entrepreneur.[3]
