Empowering Communities: Interest-Free Loans Drive Economic Growth for Kenyan Cooperative
June 14, 2023
Ergo’s Mission
Ergo has been designed to empower the ordinary person. The Ergo Manifesto, written by Ergo co-founder Alexander Chepurnoy, states that:
“Cryptocurrency should provide tools to enrich ordinary people. Small businesses struggling to make ends meet, not big depersonalized financial capital. This is what inspired me. This is my dream. In the eyes of the original broad community vision, the tools of a cryptocurrency should allow people to do economic activity whatever the business size, geographic location, or interest rates set by big players. The tools should allow people to make contracts (digital, self-enforcing, reasonable smart contracts) regardless of the differences in jurisdictions, traditions, followed business practices, etc. I hope Ergo will be helpful here. Thousands of small cooperatives and individual entrepreneurs are much more critical to healthy and sustainable wealth growth around the globe compared to a couple of corporations hiding profits in offshore havens. Let's consider the use and integration with communities, cooperative federations, nonprofit foundations, and philanthropic trusts.”
Interest Free Kenya Business Loan
Through ErgoRaffle (a decentralized application built on top of Ergo), the Ergo community has come together to fund an interest free loan that is going to a cooperative in Kenya, Africa. ErgoRaffle is essentially a decentralized crowdfunding tool that allows people to fund any sort of initiative (in a decentralized way). This initiative seeks to harness the potential of decentralized finance and active community involvement to nurture sustainable economic growth and create new avenues of prosperity for those who are a part of the cooperative.
Alexander Chepurnoy and members of the Exle team initially provided loans to the Kenyan cooperative without formal contracts. Since then, the Kenyan cooperative’s timely repayments have demonstrated financial responsibility, and Exle has introduced zero-interest loans through EXLE’s contracts.
To engage a wider community, Alex Chepurnoy decided to utilize a raffle model by selling tickets to raise funds. Going forward, they plan to establish a DAO through another Ergo dApp (Paideia) to encourage transparency and further community involvement. Donors will have a say in how funding will be utilized for new loans as well as being able to participate in innovative experiments through peer-to-peer/community finance.
Conclusion
Ergo's interest-free loan initiative in Kenya is a testament to its commitment of empowering communities and fostering sustainable economic growth through the power of blockchain. Using decentralized finance and active community participation, Ergo propels its mission forward of making an impact in the lives of ordinary people.
Check out ErgoRaffle to learn more about decentralized crowdfunding. The Exle team also plays an important role in micro loans on Ergo and more information about their work can be found on their website.
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