MicroPlace - eBay Inc.

MicroPlace: Fighting Global Poverty

Investments through MicroPlace help people like Ngeim Men, who lives in a tiny village outside of Phnom Pen. Sitting outside her neatly thatched house, she braids the long leaves of a palm tree into a small square that will form the base of a basket she is weaving. "I learned to make this from my mother," she says. "This is my business. I make baskets and sell them in the market. I support my entire family," she says proudly.

Ngeim's business started with a loan of $25 from a local microfinance organization seven years ago. Her village leader had introduced her to this institution, which offered better rates than the local moneylenders.

She used her first loan to buy materials to weave baskets — a pair of scissors, palm fronds, threads. She initially used the income from her business to buy food for her family. Having established her credit, she borrowed larger sums of money, all of which she has paid back with interest.

These loans have helped her build a bigger house, support her son through university and pay her grandchildren's school fees. Ngeim has used her current loan of $250 to buy a second-hand motorcycle. "It's a good investment," she says.

Her ability to sell her products is limited by what she can carry to the market, almost an hour away on foot. With transportation, she is able to make more trips and carry more of her products to the local wholesaler. Ngeim hopes to expand her business, but her loan has already allowed her and her family to feel more secure. She says, "I never want my family to be hungry again."

Through MicroPlace, PayPal provides an easy and effective way for people to make investments in the world's working poor, helping to alleviate poverty.

An investment of as little as $20 has the power to help someone on the margins of society become economically productive and potentially, transform lives. It will fund part of a loan that will enable recipients to start a business, build self confidence and support themselves and their families. Investors benefit as well, getting their money back – with interest – when the investment matures.

With MicroPlace, PayPal provides a sustainable way to raise the dollars needed to provide microfinance services to a billion poor people. To date, MicroPlace has helped more than 150,000 people around the world.