The stories we tell about each other matter very much. The stories we tell ourselves about our own lives matter. And most of all, I think the way that we participate in each other's stories is of deep importance. I was six years old when I first heard stories about the poor. Now I didn't hear those stories from the poor themselves, I heard them from my Sunday school teacher and Jesus, kind of via my Sunday school teacher. I remember learning that people who were poor needed something material -- food, clothing, shelter -- that they didn't have. And I also was taught, coupled with that, that it was my job -- this classroom full of five and six year-old children -- it was our job, apparently, to help. This is what Jesus asked of us. And then he said, "What you do for the least of these, you do for me." Now I was pretty psyched. I was very eager to be useful in the world -- I think we all have that feeling. And also, it was kind of interesting that God needed help. That was news to me, and it felt like it was a very important thing to get to participate in.
Priče koje jedni drugima pričamo su jako važne. Priče o našim životima koje pričamo sami sebi su važne. I, što je najvažnije, način na koji sudjelujemo u životnim pričama jedni drugih su od duboke važnosti. Imala sam tek šest godina kad sam čula prve priče o siromaštvu. Nisam ih čula od siromašnih ljudi, čula sam ih od svog vjeroučitelja i od Isusa, navodno, preko mog vjeroučitelja. Sjećam se da sam naučila kako siromašni trebaju materijalne stvari - hranu, odjeću, sklonište - ono što im nedostaje. Usto sam naučila i da je moj zadatak - i cijele moje grupe peto i šestogodišnjaka - naš je zadatak, izgleda, da im pomognemo. To Isus traži od nas. I reče, "Sve što ste učinili jednomu od moje najmanje braće, meni ste učinili." Bila sam prilično uzbuđena. Bila sam vrlo željna da se pokažem korisnom. Mislim da svi imamo taj osjećaj. I bilo mi je jako zanimljivo kako Bogu treba pomoć. To mi je bilo novo, bila je to vrlo važna stvar u kojoj mogu sudjelovati.
But I also learned very soon thereafter that Jesus also said, and I'm paraphrasing, the poor would always be with us. This frustrated and confused me; I felt like I had been just given a homework assignment that I had to do, and I was excited to do, but no matter what I would do, I would fail. So I felt confused, a little bit frustrated and angry, like maybe I'd misunderstood something here. And I felt overwhelmed. And for the first time, I began to fear this group of people and to feel negative emotion towards a whole group of people. I imagined in my head, a kind of long line of individuals that were never going away, that would always be with us. They were always going to ask me to help them and give them things, which I was excited to do, but I didn't know how it was going to work. And I didn't know what would happen when I ran out of things to give, especially if the problem was never going away. In the years following, the other stories I heard about the poor growing up were no more positive. For example, I saw pictures and images frequently of sadness and suffering. I heard about things that were going wrong in the lives of the poor. I heard about disease, I heard about war -- they always seemed to be kind of related. And in general, I got this sort of idea that the poor in the world lived lives that were wrought with suffering and sadness, devastation, hopelessness.
Ali vrlo skoro sam naučila kako je Isus rekao i, parafraziram: "uvijek će biti siromaha". To me frustriralo i zbunjivalo. Osjećala sam se kao da mi je dan domaći zadatak koji trebam napraviti, koji mi je uzbudljiv, ali kojeg ne mogu završiti, koliko god se trudila. Osjetila sam se zbunjeno, pomalo frustrirano i bijesno, kao da sam nešto krivo shvatila. I osjetila sam se nemoćnom. Po prvi put počela sam se bojati ove grupe ljudi i imala sam negativne osjećaje prema svima njima. Zamišljala sam dugi red pojedinaca koji nikad neće nestati, koji će uvijek postojati. Stalno će od mene tražiti pomoć i da im nešto udjelim, što sam bila voljna, ali nisam znala kako će to funkcionirati. Nisam znala što će se dogoditi kad mi ponestane stvari koje mogu podijeliti, pogotovo zbog toga što taj problem neće nestati. U godinama koje su slijedile, druge priče koje sam čula o siromasima nisu bile ništa pozitivnije. Na primjer, vidjela sam slike tuge i patnje. Čula sam o lošim stvarima u životima siromašnih ljudi. Čula sam o bolestima. O ratovima. Uvijek su bili nekako povezani. Općenito, dobila sam osjećaj da siromašni ljudi žive živote pune patnje i tuge, razaranja, beznađa.
And after a while, I developed what I think many of us do, is this predictable response, where I started to feel bad every time I heard about them. I started to feel guilty for my own relative wealth, because I wasn't doing more, apparently, to make things better. And I even felt a sense of shame because of that. And so naturally, I started to distance myself. I stopped listening to their stories quite as closely as I had before. And I stopped expecting things to really change. Now I still gave -- on the outside it looked like I was still quite involved. I gave of my time and my money, I gave when solutions were on sale. The cost of a cup of coffee can save a child's life, right. I mean who can argue with that? I gave when I was cornered, when it was difficult to avoid and I gave, in general, when the negative emotions built up enough that I gave to relieve my own suffering, not someone else's. The truth be told, I was giving out of that place, not out of a genuine place of hope and excitement to help and of generosity. It became a transaction for me, became sort of a trade. I was purchasing something -- I was buying my right to go on with my day and not necessarily be bothered by this bad news. And I think the way that we go through that sometimes can, first of all, disembody a group of people, individuals out there in the world. And it can also turn into a commodity, which is a very scary thing. So as I did this, and as I think many of us do this, we kind of buy our distance, we kind of buy our right to go on with our day. I think that exchange can actually get in the way of the very thing that we want most. It can get in the way of our desire to really be meaningful and useful in another person's life and, in short to love.
Nakon nekog vremena, kao i mnogi drugi, razvila sam predvidljivu reakciju, počela sam se loše osjećati svaki put kad sam čula za njih. Počela sam osjećati krivnju zbog mojeg relativnog bogatstva, jer nisam više radila na tome da se situacija popravi. Osjećala sam se čak posramljenom zbog toga. Prirodno, zbog toga sam se počela udaljavati. Prestala sam slušati njihove priče tako pažljivo kao što sam ranije. Prestala sam očekivati da se stvari promjene. Još uvijek sam davala. Izvana se činilo da sam uključena. Davala sam svoje vrijeme i novac. Davala sam kad su rješenja bila jeftina. Cijena šalice kave za spas djetetovog života, ok. Tko bi bio protiv toga? Davala sam kad su me pritisnuli, kad sam teško mogla izbjeći, i općenito, davala sam kad su se negativne emocije toliko nagomilale da je davanje pružalo olakšanje meni, a ne nekom drugome. Ako ćemo iskreno, bila sam u stanju u kojem nije bilo istinske nade i uzbuđenja zbog pomaganja i velikodušnosti. To je postala transakcija, neka vrsta trgovine. Kupovala sam nešto. Kupovala sam pravo da nastavim svoj život bez da budem uznemirena tim lošim vijestima. I mislim kako način na koji to postižemo može, prvo, učiniti te ljude bezličnima. I može ih pretvoriti u robu, što je veoma zastrašujuće. I tako sam radila to, kao i mnogi drugi, kupujemo tu distancu, kupujemo pravo da nastavimo sa svojim životom. Ali ta razmjena može smetati onome što želimo od života. Smeta našoj težnji da nudimo smisao i budemo korisni drugoj osobi ukratko, da volimo.
Thankfully, a few years ago, things shifted for me because I heard this gentleman speak, Dr. Muhammad Yunus. I know many in the room probably know exactly who he is, but to give the shorthand version for any who have not heard him speak, Dr. Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize a few years ago for his work pioneering modern microfinance. When I heard him speak, it was three years before that. But basically, microfinance -- if this is new to you as well -- think of that as financial services for the poor. Think of all the things you get at your bank and imagine those products and services tailored to the needs of someone living on a few dollars a day. Dr. Yunus shared his story, explaining what that was, and what he had done with his Grameen Bank. He also talked about, in particular, microlending, which is a tiny loan that could help someone start or grow a business. Now, when I heard him speak, it was exciting for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I learned about this new method of change in the world that, for once, showed me, maybe, a way to interact with someone and to give, to share of a resource in a way that wasn't weird and didn't make me feel bad -- that was exciting. But more importantly, he told stories about the poor that were different than any stories I had heard before. In fact, those individuals he talked about who were poor was sort of a side note. He was talking about strong, smart, hardworking entrepreneurs who woke up every day and were doing things to make their lives and their family's lives better. All they needed to do that more quickly and to do it better was a little bit of capital. It was an amazing sort of insight for me.
Na sreću, prije par godina sam imala priliku čuti govor ovog gospodina, Dr. Muhammad-a Yunus-a. Znam da vas puno zna točno tko je on, ali dati ću skraćenu verziju za sve one koji nisu čuli njegov govor, Dr. Yunus je osvojio Nobelovu nagradu za mir prije nekoliko godina za svoj pionirski rad na području modernog mikrofinanciranja. Ja sam ga slušala tri godine ranije. U biti, mikrofinanciranje - ako vam je taj pojam nepoznat - je neka vrsta financijskih usluga za siromašne. Zamislite sve stvari koje dobijete od svoje banke i zamislite sve te proizvode i usluge prilagođene ljudima koji žive sa nekoliko dolara na dan. Dr. Yunus je podijelio svoju priču, objašnjavao što je to i što je napravio sa svojom Grameen bankom. Posebno je govorio o mikrokreditiranju, sićušnom kreditu koji omogućava započinjanje ili širenje posla. Kad sam ga prvi put čula, bilo je to uzbudljivo iz više razloga. Prvenstveno jer sam naučila nov način kako promijeniti svijet koji mi je pokazao kako ipak, možda, ima načina da surađujemo, da dajemo, da dijelimo resurse na način koji nije čudan i ne čini me da se loše osjećam. To je bilo uzbudljivo. Ali, što je još važnije, njegove priče o siromasima su bile drugačije od priča koje sam čula ranije. Činjenica da su ljudi o kojima je pričao bili siromašni rečena je tek usput. On je pričao o snažnim, pametnim, radišnim poduzetnicima koji su se budili svaki dan i radili su stvari zbog kojih su njihovi životi i životi njihovih obitelji bili bolji. Sve što im je trebalo da to odrade brže i bolje je bilo malo kapitala. To mi je bila zapanjujuća spoznaja.
And I, in fact, was so deeply moved by this -- it's hard to express now how much that affected me -- but I was so moved that I actually quit my job a few weeks later, and I moved to East Africa to try to see for myself what this was about. For the first time, actually, in a long time I wanted to meet those individuals, I wanted to meet these entrepreneurs, and see for myself what their lives were actually about. So I spent three months in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania interviewing entrepreneurs that had received 100 dollars to start or grow a business. And in fact, through those interactions, for the first time, I was starting to get to be friends with some of those people in that big amorphous group out there that was supposed to be far away. I was starting to be friends and get to know their personal stories. And over and over again, as I interviewed them and spent my days with them, I did hear stories of life change and amazing little details of change.
Bila sam toliko dirnuta s tim, teško mi je opisati kako me se to dojmilo, toliko da sam par tjedana kasnije dala otkaz, i preselila se u Istočnu Afriku da vidim za sebe o čemu se tu radi. Po prvi put nakon dugo vremena htjela sam upoznati te osobe, htjela sam vidjeti te poduzetnike i sama vidjeti kako stvarno žive. Provela sam tri mjeseca u Keniji, Ugandi i Tanzaniji pričajući s poduzetnicima koji su primili 100 dolara da započnu ili prošire svoj posao. I u stvari, kroz te interakcije, po prvi put, sprijateljila sam se s nekim od tih ljudi u toj velikoj bezličnoj skupini tamo koja je trebala biti tako daleko. Počela sam upoznavati njih i njihove životne priče. I svaki put iznova, dok sam ih intervjuirala i provodila svoje dane s njima, čula sam priče o životnoj promjeni i nevjerojatne male detalje te promijene.
So I would hear from goat herders who had used that money that they had received to buy a few more goats. Their business trajectory would change. They would make a little bit more money; their standard of living would shift and would get better. And they would make really interesting little adjustments in their lives, like they would start to send their children to school. They might be able to buy mosquito nets. Maybe they could afford a lock for the door and feel secure. Maybe it was just that they could put sugar in their tea and offer that to me when I came as their guest and that made them feel proud. But there were these beautiful details, even if I talked to 20 goat herders in a row, and some days that's what happened -- these beautiful details of life change that were meaningful to them. That was another thing that really touched me. It was really humbling to see for the first time, to really understand that even if I could have taken a magic wand and fixed everything, I probably would have gotten a lot wrong. Because the best way for people to change their lives is for them to have control and to do that in a way that they believe is best for them. So I saw that and it was very humbling.
Čula sam od stočara koji su s primljenim novcem kupili još par koza. Njihova poslovna putanja se promjenila. Zaradili bi još nešto novca. Njihov životni standard bi se promijenio na bolje i njihovi životi bi se malo unaprijedili, kao počeli bi slati djecu u školu. Mogli bi kupiti mreže za komarce. Kupili bi lokot za vrata da budu sigurniji. Ili bi si samo mogli priuštiti šećer za čaj koji bi mi ponudili kad bi im došla u goste i zbog toga bi bili ponosni. Bili su to divni detalji, čak i kad sam pričala s 20 stočara zaredom, a nekih dana se i to događalo - ti divni detalji o mijenjanju života koji su njima bili važni. To je bila još jedna stvar koja me dirnula. Dojmilo me se što sam po prvi put vidjela, i stvarno razumjela kako, čak i da sam čarobnim štapićem mogla sve popraviti, vjerojatno bih u puno stvari pogriješila. Jer najbolji način na koji ljudi mogu izmijeniti svoje živote je da imaju kontrolu i da rade onako kako misle da je najbolje za njih. To me učinilo skromnijom.
Anyway, another interesting thing happened while I was there. I never once was asked for a donation, which had kind of been my mode, right. There's poverty, you give money to help -- no one asked me for a donation. In fact, no one wanted me to feel bad for them at all. If anything, they just wanted to be able to do more of what they were doing already and to build on their own capabilities. So what I did hear, once in a while, was that people wanted a loan -- I thought that sounded very reasonable and really exciting. And by the way, I was a philosophy and poetry major in school, so I didn't know the difference between profit and revenue when I went to East Africa. I just got this impression that the money would work. And my introduction to business was in these $100 little infuses of capital. And I learned about profit and revenue, about leverage, all sorts of things, from farmers, from seamstresses, from goat herders. So this idea that these new stories of business and hope might be shared with my friends and family, and through that, maybe we could get some of the money that they needed to be able to continue their businesses as loans, that's this little idea that turned into Kiva.
Još se jedna zanimljiva stvar dogodila dok sam bila tamo. Nikad me nitko nije tražio donaciju, a tada sam razmišljala na taj način. Postoji siromaštvo, daješ novac da pomogneš. Nitko nije tražio da mu udijelim milostinju. Štoviše, nitko nije želio da ih žalim. Samo su željeli da mogu i dalje raditi ono što su već radili i razvijati se na svojim sposobnostima. Ono što sam čula, s vremena na vrijeme, je da ljudi žele pozajmicu - učinilo mi se da to zvuči razumno i stvarno uzbudljivo. Usput, studirala sam filozofiju i poeziju, tako da nisam razlikovala zaradu od prihoda kad sam otišla u Istočnu Afriku. Samo mi se učinilo kako bi novac mogao djelovati. U poslovne vode sam ušla s tim malim injekcijama kapitala od 100 dolara. Naučila sam o zaradi i prihodu, financijskim polugama, o raznim stvarima, od seljaka, švelja, stočara. Tako je ova ideja da bi ove priče o poslovanju i nadi mogla podijeliti s prijateljima i s obitelji i kako bi na taj način mogli prikupiti dio novca koji im je bio potreban da nastave sa svojim poslom kao kredit, i to je bila ideja koja se pretvorila u Kivu.
A few months later, I went back to Uganda with a digital camera and a basic website that my partner, Matthew, and I had kind of built, and took pictures of seven of my new friends, posted their stories, these stories of entrepreneurship, up on the website, spammed friends and family and said, "We think this is legal. Haven't heard back yet from SEC on all the details, but do you say, do you want to help participate in this, provide the money that they need?" The money came in basically overnight. We sent it over to Uganda. And over the next six months, a beautiful thing happened; the entrepreneurs received the money, they were paid, and their businesses, in fact, grew, and they were able to support themselves and change the trajectory of their lives. In October of '05, after those first seven loans were paid, Matt and I took the word beta off of the site. We said, "Our little experiment has been a success. Let's start for real." That was our official launch. And then that first year, October '05 through '06, Kiva facilitated $500,000 in loans. The second year, it was a total of 15 million. The third year, the total was up to around 40. The fourth year, we were just short of 100. And today, less than five years in, Kiva's facilitated more than 150 million dollars, in little 25-dollar bits, from lenders and entrepreneurs -- more than a million of those, collectively in 200 countries.
Nekoliko mjeseci kasnije, vratila sam se u Ugandu s digitalnim fotoaparatom i Web stranicom koju smo postavili moj partner Matthew i ja i slikali smo sedam mojih novih prijatelja, objavili njihove priče o poduzetništvu na toj stranici, zatrpavali emailovima prijatelje i rodbinu i govorili, "Mislimo da je ovo legalno. Nije nam još odgovorila SEC o svim detaljima, ali, da li biste vi htjeli sudjelovati u ovome, i osigurati novac koji im treba?" Novac je došao praktički preko noći. Poslali smo ga u Ugandu. I u sljedećih šest mjeseci dogodila se predivna stvar; poduzetnici su primili novac, bili su plaćeni i njihovo poslovanje je naraslo i mogli su se uzdržavati i promijeniti putanju svojih života. U listopadu 2005., nakon što je prvih sedam kredita bilo otplaćeno, Matt i ja smo skinuli oznaku "beta" sa stranice. Rekli smo, "Naš je mali eksperiment uspio. Idemo sad za ozbiljno." To je bio naš službeni početak. I te prve godine, od listopada 2005. do 2006., Kiva je omogućila kredite u vrijednosti 500.000 dolara. Druge godine, total je bio 15 milijuna. Treće godine, ukupno je bilo oko 40. Četvrte godine skoro 100. A danas, nakon manje od pet godina, Kiva je omogućila više od 150 milijuna dolara, u komadićima od po 25 dolara, od zajmodavaca i poduzetnika - njih više od milijun, ukupno u 200 zemalja.
So that's where Kiva is today, just to bring you right up to the present. And while those numbers and those statistics are really fun to talk about and they're interesting, to me, Kiva's really about stories. It's about retelling the story of the poor, and it's about giving ourselves an opportunity to engage that validates their dignity, validates a partnership relationship, not a relationship that's based on the traditional sort of donor beneficiary weirdness that can happen. But instead a relationship that can promote respect and hope and this optimism that together we can move forward. So what I hope is that, not only can the money keep flowing forth through Kiva -- that's a very positive and meaningful thing -- but I hope Kiva can blur those lines, like I said, between the traditional rich and poor categories that we're taught to see in the world, this false dichotomy of us and them, have and have not. I hope that Kiva can blur those lines. Because as that happens, I think we can feel free to interact in a way that's more open, more just and more creative, to engage with each other and to help each other.
I tu je Kiva danas, da vas upoznamo sa sadašnjošću. Ali, iako su ti brojevi i statistike stvarno zabavne i zanimljive, za mene, u Kivi su najvažnije priče. Najvažnije je prepričavanje priče siromašnih ljudi, da damo sami sebi priliku da se uključe na dostojanstven način, u partnerskoj vezi, ne u tradicionalnom odnosu između donatora i primatelja donacije koji može ispasti neugodan. Umjesto toga želimo odnos poštovanja i nade i optimizma da zajedno možemo naprijed. Ono što se ja nadam je ne samo da novac nastavi teći kroz Kivu - to je vrlo pozitivna i smislena stvar - nego i da Kiva uspije zamutiti te granice, kao što sam rekla, između tradicionalnih kategorija bogatstva i siromaštva koje smo naučeni vidjeti u svijetu, te lažne dihotomije između njih i nas, onih koji imaju i onih koji nemaju. Nadam se da Kiva može zamutiti te granice. Jer, kad se to dogodi, mislim da možemo surađivati na način koji je otvoreniji, pravedniji i kreativniji, kako bismo mogli međusobno sudjelovati i pomagati jedni drugima.
Imagine how you feel when you see somebody on street who is begging and you're about to approach them. Imagine how you feel; and then imagine the difference when you might see somebody who has a story of entrepreneurship and hard work who wants to tell you about their business. Maybe they're smiling, and they want to talk to you about what they've done. Imagine if you're speaking with somebody who's growing things and making them flourish, somebody who's using their talents to do something productive, somebody who's built their own business from scratch, someone who is surrounded by abundance, not scarcity, who's in fact creating abundance, somebody with full hands with something to offer, not empty hands asking for you to give them something. Imagine if you could hear a story you didn't expect of somebody who wakes up every day and works very, very hard to make their life better. These stories can really change the way that we think about each other. And if we can catalyze a supportive community to come around these individuals and to participate in their story by lending a little bit of money, I think that can change the way we believe in each other and each other's potential.
Zamislite kako se osjećate kad vidite nekog kako prosi na ulici i upravo mu prilazite. Zamislite kako se osjećate. I zamislite razliku kad vidite nekog tko ima priču o poduzetništvu i radu i tko vam želi pričati o svom poslu. Možda se smiješe, i žele vam ispričati što su napravili. Zamislite da pričate s nekim tko uzgaja stvari i čini da rastu, netko tko koristi svoje talente da učini nešto produktivno, netko tko izgrađuje svoje poslovanje iz ničeg, netko okružen obiljem, ne oskudnošću, onaj tko stvara obilje, netko tko ima što za ponuditi, a ne praznih ruku tražeći da im nešto udijelite. Zamislite da možete čuti priču koju niste očekivali nekog tko se budi svaki dan i radi vrlo, vrlo marljivo da poboljša svoj život. Ove priče stvarno mogu promijeniti način na koji razmišljamo jedni o drugima. I ako možemo katalizirati zajednicu koja podržava ove pojedince i sudjeluje u njihovim pričama posuđujući malo novca, mislim da možemo izmijeniti način na koji vjerujemo jedni drugima i u potencijal drugih.
Now for me, Kiva is just the beginning. And as I look forward to what is next, it's been helpful to reflect on the things I've learned so far. The first one is, as I mentioned, entrepreneurship was a new idea to me. Kiva borrowers, as I interviewed them and got to know them over the last few years, have taught me what entrepreneurship is. And I think, at its core, it's deciding that you want your life to be better. You see an opportunity and you decide what you're going to do to try to seize that. In short, it's deciding that tomorrow can better than today and going after that. Second thing that I've learned is that loans are a very interesting tool for connectivity. So they're not a donation. Yeah, maybe it doesn't sound that much different. But in fact, when you give something to someone and they say, "Thanks," and let you know how things go, that's one thing. When you lend them money, and they slowly pay you back over time, you have this excuse to have an ongoing dialogue. This continued attention -- this ongoing attention -- is a really big deal to build different kinds of relationships among us. And then third, from what I've heard from the entrepreneurs I've gotten to know, when all else is equal, given the option to have just money to do what you need to do, or money plus the support and encouragement of a global community, people choose the community plus the money. That's a much more meaningful combination, a more powerful combination.
Za mene, Kiva je tek početak. I kako gledam naprijed u ono što dolazi, pomoglo mi je prisjetiti se što sam dosad naučila. Prvo, kao što sam i bila spomenula, poduzetništvo mi je bila nova ideja. Kivini zajmoprimci su me kroz sve ove godine naučili što je poduzetništvo. I mislim da je, u svojoj srži, to odluka da želiš bolji život. Vidiš priliku i odlučiš da ćeš je pokušati iskoristiti. Ukratko, to je odluka da sutra može biti bolje od danas i ispunjenje tog cilja. Drugo, naučila sam kako su krediti zanimljivo sredstvo spajanja. Oni nisu donacije. Da, možda vam se ne čini bitno različitim. Ali u stvari, kad nekome date nešto i oni kažu "Hvala", i kasnije vam jave kako je to prošlo, to je jedna stvar. Kad im posudite novac, i oni ga s vremenom polako vraćaju, imate izliku za održavanje trajnog dijaloga. Ova kontinuirana pažnja, ova neprestana pažnja, je stvarno bitna za izgradnju različitih odnosa među nama. I treće, prema onom što su mi rekli poduzetnici koje sam upoznala, ako je sve drugo isto, ako je izbor da vam netko samo da novac, ili da dobijete i novac i podršku i poticaj globalne zajednice, ljudi odabiru zajednicu plus novac. To je puno smislenija kombinacija, snažnija kombinacija.
So with that in mind, this particular incident has led to the things that I'm working on now. I see entrepreneurs everywhere now, now that I'm tuned into this. And one thing that I've seen is there are a lot of supportive communities that already exist in the world. With social networks, it's an amazing way, growing the number of people that we all have around us in our own supportive communities, rapidly. And so, as I have been thinking about this, I've been wondering: how can we engage these supportive communities to catalyze even more entrepreneurial ideas and to catalyze all of us to make tomorrow better than today? As I've researched what's going on in the United States, a few interesting little insights have come up. So one is that, of course, as we all might expect, many small businesses in the U.S. and all over the world still need money to grow and to do more of what they want to do or they might need money during a hard month. But there's always a need for resources close by. Another thing is, it turns out, those resources don't usually come from the places you might expect -- banks, venture capitalists, other organizations and support structures -- they come from friends and family. Some statistics say 85 percent or more of funding for small businesses comes from friends and family. That's around 130 billion dollars a year -- it's a lot. And third, so as people are doing this friends and family fundraising process, it's very awkward, people don't know exactly what to ask for, how to ask, what to promise in return, even though they have the best of intentions and want to thank those people that are supporting them.
Ako imate to na umu, taj događaj je vodio do stvari na kojima sada radim. Sada vidim poduzetnike svugdje, sada kada sam u tome. I jedna od stvari koje sam vidjela je da već postoji puno podupirućih zajednica na svijetu. Društvene mreže su fantastične, i čine da podupiruće zajednice oko nas brzo rastu. I tako, dok sam razmišljala o tome pitala sam se: kako da uključimo ove podupiruće zajednice da kataliziraju još više poduzetničkih ideja i da kataliziraju sve nas da postignemo bolje sutra? Istraživala sam što se događa u Sjedinjenim Državama i par zanimljivih stvari se pojavilo. Naravno, kao što smo mogli i očekivati, puno malih poduzeća u SAD-u i po cijelom svijetu još uvijek trebaju novac za rast i ispunjenje svojih ciljeva, ili bi im mogao zatrebati novac u teškim vremenima. Uvijek postoji potreba za resursima blizu nas. Ali, ispostavilo se da ti resursi obično ne dolaze iz mjesta koje bi mogli očekivati - banaka, poduzetničkih kapitalista, drugih organizacija i potpornih struktura - obično dolaze od prijatelja i obitelji. Prema nekim statističkim podacima, više od 85 posto sredstava za mala poduzeća dolazi od prijatelja i obitelji. Oko 130 milijardi dolara godišnje. To je puno. Treće, kad ljudi prikupljaju novac od obitelji i prijatelja bude im neugodno, ne znaju točno što tražiti, kako tražiti, što obećati zauzvrat, iako imaju najbolju namjeru i žele zahvaliti ljudima koji ih podupiru.
So to harness the power of these supportive communities in a new way and to allow entrepreneurs to decide for themselves exactly what that financial exchange should look like, exactly what fits them and the people around them, this week actually, we're quietly doing a launch of Profounder, which is a crowd funding platform for small businesses to raise what they need through investments from their friends and family. And it's investments, not donations, not loans, but investments that have a dynamic return. So the mapping of participating in the story, it actually flows with the up and down. So in short, it's a do-it-yourself tool for small businesses to raise these funds. And what you can do is go onto the site, create a profile, create investment terms in a really easy way. We make it really, really simple for me as well as anyone else who wants to use the site. And we allow entrepreneurs to share a percentage of their revenues. They can raise up to a million dollars from an unlimited number of unaccredited, unsophisticated investors -- everyday people, heaven forbid -- and they can share those returns over time -- again, whatever terms they set. As investors choose to become involved based on those terms, they can either take their rewards back as cash, or they can decide in advance to give those returns away to a non-profit. So they can be a cash, or a cause, investor. It's my hope that this kind of tool can show anybody who has an idea a path to go do what they want to do in the world and to gather the people around them that they already have, the people that know them best and that love them and want to support them, to gather them to make this happen.
Kako bi iskoristili moć ovih podupirućih zajednica na nov način i dozvolili poduzetnicima da odlučuju za sebe točno kako ta financijska razmjena treba izgledati, kako će odgovarati njima i ljudima oko njih, baš ovaj tjedan, potiho pokrećemo Profounder, platformu za financiranje malih poduzeća kako bi prikupili potrebna sredstva kroz investicije svojih obitelji i prijatelja. To su investicije, ne donacije ili pozajmice, investicije koje imaju dinamičan povrat. Sudjelovanje u ovim pričama ima svoje uspone i padove. Ukratko, to je alat tipa uradi-sam da male firme prikupe potreban kapital. Možete otići na stranicu, stvoriti profil, stvoriti uvijete investiranja na jednostavan način. Napravili smo to jako jednostavno za mene kao i za sve koji žele koristiti stranicu. Omogućavamo poduzetnicima da podijele dio svojih prihoda. Mogu prikupiti do milijun dolara od neograničenog broja nestručnih, nesofisticiranih investitora - običnih ljudi - i onda dijele te povrate s njima kroz vrijeme - po dogovorenim uvjetima. Kako investitori odluče sudjelovati, ovisno o tim uvjetima, nagrade mogu podignuti kao gotovinu ili mogu unaprijed odlučiti da te povrate predaju neprofitnoj organizaciji. Tako da mogu biti investitor za novac ili za dobru stvar. Nadam se da ovakav alat može pokazati svakome s idejom put kako postići ono što žele i skupiti oko sebe ljude koji su već tu, ljude koji ih najbolje znaju i koji ih vole i žele ih poduprijeti, skupiti ih i ostvariti to.
So that's what I'm working on now. And to close, I just want to say, look these are tools. Right now, Profounder's right at the very beginning, and it's very palpable; it's very clear to me, that it's just a vessel, it's just a tool. What we need are for people to care, to actually go use it, just like they've cared enough to use Kiva to make those connections. But the good news is I don't think I need to stand here and convince you to care -- I'm not even going to try. I don't think, even though we often hear, you know, hear the ethical and moral reasons, the religious reasons, "Here's why caring and giving will make you happier." I don't think we need to be convinced of that. I think we know; in fact, I think we know so much, and it's such a reality that we care so deeply, that in fact, what usually stops us is that we're afraid to try and to mess up, because we care so very much about helping each other and being meaningful in each other's lives.
Na tome sad radim. I za kraj, želim samo reći da pogledate ove alate. Trenutno, Profounder je na samom početku i jasno mi je kako je to samo sredstvo, samo alat. Ono što želimo je da ljudima bude stalo da ga koriste, kao što im je bilo dovoljno stalo da koriste Kivu i da stvore te veze. Ali, dobra vijest je da ne mislim da vam trebam reći da vam bude stalo. Neću ni pokušati. Ne mislim, iako to često čujemo poslušajte etičke i moralne razloge, religiozne razloge, "Evo zašto će vas briga i davanje učiniti sretnima." Ne mislim da vas treba uvjeriti u to. Mislim da znamo. Štoviše, mislim da to toliko znamo, to nam je toliko stvarno da nam je toliko duboko stalo, da nas, u stvari, to sprječava što smo uplašeni da pokušamo i zabrljamo, jer nam je toliko stalo da pomognemo jedni drugima i budemo smisleni jedni drugima u životu.
So what I think I can do today, that best thing I can give you -- I've given you my story, which is the best I can do. And I think I can remind us that we do care. I think we all already know that. And I think we know that love is resilient enough for us to get out there and try. Just a sec.
Ono što mislim da mogu napraviti danas, najbolje što vam mogu dati - je moja priča, to je najviše što mogu. I mislim da nas mogu podsjetiti da nam je stalo. Ali mislim da to već znamo. I znamo kako je ljubav dovoljno otporna da krenemo i pokušamo. Samo trenutak.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Thanks.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Thanks.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
For me, the best way to be inspired to try is to stop and to listen to someone else's story. And I'm grateful that I've gotten to do that here at TED. And I'm grateful that whenever I do that, guaranteed, I am inspired -- I am inspired by the person I am listening to. And I believe more and more every time I listen in that that person's potential to do great things in the world and in my own potential to maybe help. And that -- forget the tools, forget the moving around of resources -- that stuff's easy. Believing in each other, really being sure when push comes to shove that each one of us can do amazing things in the world, that is what can make our stories into love stories and our collective story into one that continually perpetuates hope and good things for all of us. So that, this belief in each other, knowing that without a doubt and practicing that every day in whatever you do, that's what I believe will change the world and make tomorrow better than today.
Za mene, najbolje način da budem inspirirana da pokušam je stati i poslušati nečiju priču. I zahvalna sam što sam mogla to učiniti na TED-u. Zahvalna sam što, kad god to napravim, uvijek sam nadahnuta, nadahnuta sam osobom koju slušam. I vjerujem sve više svaki put kad slušam u potencijal te osobe da učini velike stvari u svijetu i u moj potencijal da možda pomognem. I to - zaboravite na alate, preslagivanje resursa - to je lako. Vjerovanje u druge, doista biti siguran kad je situacija teška da svatko od nas može učiniti divne stvari na svijetu, to može naše priče pretvoriti u ljubavne priče i našu zajedničku priču u jednu koja trajno produljuje nadu da dobre stvari čekaju sve nas. Ova vjera jednih u druge, znajući bez sumnje i to prakticirajući svaki dan u svemu što radite, to je ono što mislim da će promijeniti svijet i učiniti da sutra bude bolje nego danas.
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)