Haitian crowd-funding platform Zafen announced a partnership with Kiva.org, the world’s largest crowd-funding platform that connects people through lending to alleviate poverty. This collaboration will allow Kiva's global community of 1 million lenders to support Haitian entrepreneurs. Zafèn has become Kiva’s first Haiti-based field partner supporting the Small Growing Business (SGBs) Sector. 

Zafèn, which has raised nearly $2 million since it was founded in 2010, is a crowd-funded loan source for Haitian SGBs that do not qualify for traditional bank loans or micro-finance and otherwise would not have access to capital. Zafèn also raises donations for social projects in Haiti with community benefit, including clean water, education and the environment.

“Zafèn is a truly innovative program serving an underserved and challenging market niche,” McMurry adds. “We believe that through Kiva’s ability to crowd-fund affordable loans and the Zafèn team’s expertise in serving the needs of SGBs, we will be able to impact the SGB sector in Haiti in a meaningful way by helping these businesses grow, create jobs and develop their communities.”

Zafèn provides SGBs with a range of quality financial services, training and business development programs designed to move them toward financial inclusion, increased employment opportunities, and improved family economic security. Over the past four years, Zafèn lenders have funded nearly 500 business loans and donation projects. This has created more than 800 new jobs. Also, Zafèn has trained hundreds of Haitian SGBs in financial best practices.

Montreal-based Katleen Felix, president of the Haitian Hometown Associations Resource Group, says the Haitian Diaspora has been operating as small-scale social impact investors in their hometowns for decades. “Zafèn was designed with advice from the Diaspora to facilitate choosing viable businesses and providing much needed follow up in the field,” she notes. “This partnership with Kiva is an important milestone that will increase our base of users around the world who are ready to collaborate with the Haitian Diaspora and their hometown associations.”

The Migration Policy Institute reports that in 2012, 606,000 Haitian immigrants lived in the United States, 77,000 in France, 74,000 in Canada and 40,000 in the Bahamas. Three-quarters of Haitians in the United States live in the greater Miami, New York, Boston, Orlando and Atlanta areas.