Shivani Siroya Fellow 2011

Basics

Team

Describe your relevant experience (especially entrepreneurial).

While working as a consultant at the Earth Institute and UNFPA, I helped to evaluate and scale microfinance and public health. I surveyed hundreds of clients on their quality of life, spending habits and access health services. While working there, I witnessed first hand micro-credit’s success in helping alleviate the struggle of subsistence living by helping clients begin new businesses with new sources of income. However, I also realized how micro-credit had done little to expand these businesses beyond sole proprietorships or lift entire communities out of poverty. We needed to find a way for successful micro-businesses to grow beyond these early stages, hire more employees and reinvest in the growth and well-being of their communities.

Why is your team uniquely qualified to run this venture?

My professional background is in investment banking, public health and microfinance. My team is comprised of four individuals with diverse backgrounds in tech, online media, microfinance, international development, and finance. Additionally, our 6 advisory board members are experienced in managing and running NGOs, non-profits, mircrofinance and tech organizations.

We have created InVenture’s own business model to also be part of the solution - accessible, sustainable, transparent and responsive to all our varied stakeholders. To achieve its goals, InVenture has adopted a hybrid approach in which portions of operational processes have been privatized as the InVenture Capital Corporation (ICC), with remaining activities housed in the InVenture Foundation. This division cuts down on administrative overhead and increases InVenture’s overall efficiency, with 100% InVestments from online users going directly to micro-entrepreneurs. Furthermore, this structure also puts InVenture in the ideal position to scale both entities rapidly, reaching exponentially more communities than it could have as a single organization.

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