Overview

Why are you interested in becoming a Trustee?

We seek to connect our successful graduates with our donors/volunteers who are interested in funding their loans. Our graduates have all completed a rigorous "entrepreneurship boot camp" while in our prison. Throughout this 6-month "mini MBA" program, they complete over 1,000 of college-level training while also writing a full business plan. They also pitch this business plan over 100 times in a Shark Tank format, including during monthly events with executive volunteers from the free world. As a result, the Baylor University Hankamer School of Business now awards our graduates a college Certificate in Entrepreneurship. We are looking to use the Kiva Zip platform to facilitate loans to our released graduates who are now seeking to launch their business. We envision that the vast majority of the capital will come from our donors/volunteers ... and we would like to use this platform to share our active borrowers with our followers on Facebook, Twitter, etc. We might even develop a small monthly e-newsletter that would go to our donors who are interested in funding loans to PEP guys. We truly envision working in partnership with Kiva to make this a great story!

What is the mission of your organization?

At the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, we are servant leaders on a mission to transform inmates and executives by unlocking human potential through entrepreneurial passion, education and mentoring.

Borrower Due Diligence

How will you decide who to endorse as a borrower? What due diligence will you conduct?

We will have known them for at least a year, and worked intensely with them on a daily basis throughout this period. They will have a complete business plan and likely will have a stable work history prior to securing our endorsement. We will only endorse those whom we believe are certain to be able to pay back the loans, since we are looking to build a long-term partnership here.