PAGE Video Series: Julie Hanna

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PAGE Ambassador - Julie Hanna of Kiva

Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) and Executive Chair of the Board at Kiva Julie Hanna speaks about her Signature Initiative – called "Global Capital Access," she is committed to delivering $100 million in crowdfunded loans to 200,000 women and young entrepreneurs.
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Julie Hanna: I'm Julie Hanna. I serve as executive chair of the board at Kiva. As a technologist, I found myself on the front lines of the tech revolution in the mid-90s, and my journey began on the front lines of war. I'm an Egyptian immigrant and experienced war in Jordan and Lebanon and made my way to the United States. So the red thread for me has been in using technology, viewing it as the most powerful democratizing force that humankind has ever known, as a way of enabling fair access on a global basis; the kind of access that I was able to get that really changed my trajectory. Kiva's mission is, essentially, kind of a -- our vision is a more connected world -- a connected world without poverty and, you know, connecting people through lending. These are the world's most resourceful entrepreneurs. You know, 75 percent of them are women and I think of them as the world's unsung heroes of entrepreneurship. And then you start to look and say, how can they change the trajectory, not only of their own lives, but women reinvest 80 to 90 percent of their income in their families, and it not only changes the course for the family, but for the community. It revitalizes the community and, ultimately, you can see that it's beginning to plant the seeds of changing the fate of a nation. The signature initiative that I announced today at global capital access, in addition to committing the 100 million dollars to reach 200,000 entrepreneurs, especially women and youth, but Kiva has also been designated as a strategic partner for PAGE. So all PAGE events and activities; all the entrepreneurs that touch PAGE, through the events and activities, will have access to capital through Kiva's community of lenders. And so it's a way of saying, "How can there be a sustaining impact on the entrepreneurs beyond the events and activities?" And I'm very excited about providing that on-ramp for entrepreneurs that we touch.
 

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