The goal is similar to kiva.org, but making a direct one-to-one connection of you, the donor, with the entrepreneur partner whom you are helping. Help someone make a better life, get out of poverty and ensure a future for their family. The approach is micro-loans that hopefully you will put right back to work in your next project.
Initially at least, we plan to make every project a one-to-one connection between donor and recipient. As the donor, what do you get?
- You’re helping someone and making a real difference. It feels good trust me, I’ve done several on my own already. Help me make a bigger difference and feel good about what you’re doing.
- Cultural connection. We make a one-to-one connection to your partner. You will learn about them, they about you and you’ll become more than partners. We hope that you’ll visit, if you can.
- You’re connected and will see the progress, the success and the failures. We try to synchronize auditor visits with you so that you are able to communicate directly and offer any help or encouragement.
On Up perhaps offers more value for the donors helping the One Up Entrepreneur by making these real connections. We have locals as paid auditors who follow up monthly to make sure every is going well and any bills are paid. We ensure payment for any land, equipment, location fees or rentals are made via One Up, so that if changes are required due to unforeseen circumstances.
Here are ideas for the micro-business we are starting now.
One Up Jamaica 