Mission

To develop SECUR (Social Entrepreneurship Creating Urban Revitalization), an online platform connecting citizens interested in investing in Cleveland to opportunities to invest in socially and environmentally responsible Cleveland businesses.

Contacts

Sudhir Raghupathy, sudhir@idgroupusa.com
Stephanie Howse, notableinteractions@gmail.com.

Projects

SECUR will allow citizens to make micro-investments in local social ventures in the urban core. These investments will be transferred to financial partners who will make loans or grants to qualifying businesses. Loan payments will be transferred back to SECUR investors who will have the option of reinvesting the funds in another SECUR project, thus continuing the SECUR circle.

Updates

(May 2010)

Having had multiple meetings since November - our team has defined the core pieces of the KIVA model we would like to emulate, as follows:

SECUR MODEL**

1. SECUR Field Partners approve loans
   
   • SECUR Field Partners approve and disburse loan to local entrepreneurs
2. SECUR Field Partners submit entrepreneurs to the SECUR website
   
   • Entrepreneurs are profiled on the website for potential citizen lenders to review their business profiles
3. Cleveland community (citizen lenders) support local entrepreneurs, through SECUR’s website
   
   • Citizen lenders will contribute funds to entrepreneurs using SECUR’s website
4. SECUR provides the citizen lender’s money to SECUR Field Partners
   
   • SECUR website will transfer money from citizen lender to appropriate SECUR Field Partner
5. Entrepreneur repays loan
   
   • The entrepreneur will pay the loan back to the appropriate Field Partner
6. Citizen lenders receive their money back
   
   • Citizen lenders will get their money back (when the entrepreneur repays their loan) where they will be able to reinvest in another business, if they elect to do so.

**Note: The SECUR model is based on the model established by KIVA. For more information on KIVA, please log on to

At the Nov. 17 Outcome Groups showcase, the group had the following updates:

Sudhir Raghupathy delivered a work group summary defining Social Entrepreneurship to the E4S crowd , providing the following personal examples:

• Working on a green jobs incubator (Glenville Green Space) in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood.
• Working on a green jobs training program with the Hitchcock Center for Women in Cleveland - specifically, Clear Lake Farm.

I explained at the November meeting, that models like the above still lack an abundance of funding and may not be eligible for traditional sources of funding, hence they could surely benefit from a new vehicle assuring microfunding for such sustainable social ventures. The core focus of our team, once titled CLEVA in honor of our role model Kiva - and now SECUR, is to develop the online platform and network of support needed to help it succeed. Specific to our core project , we provided the following updates and defined one core area of need.

• Interested in pursuing a micro-finance model for Cleveland similar to Kiva.org
• Have contacted Kiva for platform advice, support and cost inquiry
• Studying the Kiva model for optimal local application in Cleveland's urban core

Identified need: Technology savvy individuals capable of developing our designed platform or making key recommendations as to the platform we should use.