Haiti Rising: Record Loan Backed by Muhammad Yunus Will Create 300 Quality Jobs

In 2010, Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake that weakened the economy and left half the population without employment. More than four years later, Haiti continues to rebuild and jobs remain scarce.

Now you can play a role in creating sustainable, long-term recovery in Haiti through Kiva.

Kiva and Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus are teaming up with Kreyòl Essence, a social business, to create hundreds of long-term, quality jobs for Haitian women and small shareholder farmers through a record-breaking Kiva loan. Learn more about the loan in the video below:


The loan enables Kreyòl Essence to hire 300 Haitian farmers to grow castor plants, and create new jobs for women to make castor oil from its seeds, a timeless tradition in Haiti.

Kreyòl Essence uses the oils for a variety of “eco-luxury” beauty products that are then bottled by Haitians and exported by Haitians. As a social business, Kreyòl Essence puts profits right back into the company to create more jobs with benefits in Haiti.

Funding on Kiva will allow Kreyòl Essence to access capital that is hard to get through traditional banks in Haiti, because the loan size is too small to be profitable for a bank. You can learn more about Kreyòl Essence and small and medium enterprise loans on Kiva here>

Kreyòl Essence is supported by Yunus Social Business (YSB). YSB was co-founded by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus. YSB works with entrepreneurs around the world to address social and environmental problems, through innovative social business models that are financially self-sustainable but, at the same time, committed to recycling all profits into addressing a social cause.
Creating 300 Haitian jobs is roughly the equivalent of creating 20,000 job in the U.S.—an outstanding achievement for any company, especially a social business.

In addition to job creation, Kreyòl Essence also helps to address Haiti’s problem of deforestation and soil erosion. Haiti’s forested lands have been reduced to less than 2%. By cultivating castor oil plants, Kreyòl Essence helps to protect the surrounding area from erosion.

Be a part of Haiti’s recovery by making a loan today!