Dvelo, besides the connotation of the word "develop", stands for "Development via Education, Lending and Opportunity."
Currently, Dvelo does not allow users to withdraw loaned credits, but we are working to one day allow this and provide users both financial and social incentives to assist our Field Partners.
Dvelo.org consults with our strategic partners on factors such as performance history of the institutions, the currency risk involved with the nation(s) and regions that these organizations operate in, the political risk of those countries or regions, each MFI’s social commitment to alleviating poverty, and lending methodology.
Our strategic partners include microfinance investment funds, microfinance rating organizations, and development organizations. We also have our own set of required criteria that each partnered MFI must meet before they can begin the pilot phase of partnership.
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) typically get their funds from either donations, grants, or loans from local commercial or institutional lenders.
These commercial and institutional lenders often charge anywhere from 15-20% interest on their loans to MFIs around the world because of the perceived risk involved. Dvelo.org serves to reduce this cost of capital for these MFIs by giving them a platform to request loans directly from social lenders for an interest rate that they both agree with.
If selected for partnership with Dvelo.org, MFIs can use our site to raise capital and expand their organization's reach for almost half (3-11% for example) of what the MFI would have to pay otherwise.
A user's Global Impact is a measurement that represents a given user's impact in the world through Dvelo, and it is listed under a user's profile for friends and other users to see. It is the sum of that user's loans, that of their invites' loans, and that of their invites' invite's loans, and so on for five generations. A user may only be able to afford to make a loan of, say $25, but if he or she invites more users, and their invites, in turn, invite more users, and so on, he or she could have a Global Impact in the thousands of dollars, much more of an impact than their individual loan amount would imply.
If you got a lotta dough and want to lend a big stash of it to a community in need, go for it!.. But if not, and you want to do more than just lend what you can, invite others to join and watch your Global Impact grow and grow as your invites lend and invite more lenders of their own.
The figure is calculated for all users twice daily, so you may not see your impact change immediately after making a loan.
During the beta phase of our site, revenue for Dvelo is generated from the voluntary contribution field present when purchasing credits in case you want to contribute to our cause. After the beta phase, Dvelo will generate revenue through a small posting fee for partnered MFIs.
Dvelo.org makes every effort to only partner with the most effective, efficient and socially responsible microfinance institutions, but we cannot guarantee repayment with interest in any way. Our platform is meant to be a helpful platform to expand the reach of microfinance, and Dvelo.org is not an income generating vehicle for users of any kind. Credits are nonrefundable and cannot be withdrawn once purchased.
Step one - Users purchase credits to fulfill loan requests made by MFIs (microfinance institutions) around the world.
Step two - Dvelo.org collects and transfers all the credits going to each respective partnered MFI. In order to cut down on clerical and transfer costs, right now, this is done once a month, with the totals raised during that month transferred to the partnered MFIs in one total sum. It is important for users to understand that we are not transferring any money directly to any entrepreneurs. Each entrepreneur must borrow through an accredited and partnered MFI on the ground in their region.
Step three - If the partnered MFI repays their loans correctly and on time, users receive the repayment plus interest through their Dvelo.org account. These payments are made, in a single total amount, at the end of the loan period.
Step four - Users may use their repaid credits for additional loan requests or donate them to one of Dvelo's partnered charitable causes.
For current information on Dvelo.org’s HR needs, please email us at jobs@dvelo.org. Regardless of specific HR needs, we encourage you to send us a resumé which we will keep on file for future reference. Please indicate the general area you are applying for: Communication/PR, Website development and maintenance, Accounting, or Program development. For internship opportunities and information, check here.
We appreciate the positive feedback we have received, and we find it great that people are passionate about expanding microfinance through Dvelo.org, but we have found that an influx of people for short stints in our small offices, whether in South Africa or the U.S. can sometimes be detrimental to our efforts. Rather, we would love for our users to continue to spread the word of Dvelo.org and seek out opportunities with some of the microfinance institutions we have worked with around the world that are always in need of passionate volunteers. If you would like to volunteer for an extended period of time (i.e. three-twelve months), you can email us at volunteer@dvelo.org.
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