Wokai: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:48, 9 March 2011

Revision as of 07:49, 9 March 2011

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==History==

Wokai was founded in March 2007 by Casey Wilson and Courtney McColgan after they met studying at Tsinghua University in Beijing.<ref name="Newsweek">[http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/chinacalling/archive/2009/04/01/facebook-for-china-s-farmers.aspx China Calling : Facebook for China's Farmers]</ref> As of November 2010, Wokai has a leadership team of 5, a Board of Directors and an Investment Committee in addition to its 1116 chapters of volunteer representatives in Beijing, Boston, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Nanjing, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, Toronto and Washington, D.C., London, Singapore, Bristol, Dallas and Atlanta (with upcoming chapters in Brussels, Chicago, Kunming, Taipei and Vancouver).<ref name="Team">[http://www.wokai.org/f/about/index.php?page=team "Team" on Wokai.org]</ref> Wokai also maintains a fellowship program called "Wokai Fellows", which allows selected individuals to work directly with one of Wokai's field partners in rural China. Wokai has raised almost $380,000 in loan capital through over 6,800 contributions from 55 countries in order to distribute 504 loans.<ref>[http://www.wokai.org/ "Home" on Wokai.org]</ref> Wokai is still the only online, P2P microfinance platform servicing rural China.

<ref name="Wokai's Blog">[http://www.wokai.org/blog]</ref>, found on the company website, features updates from the field through Wokai Fellows, profiles of Wokai volunteers from around the world, personal glimpses of rural Chinese life, and commentary about current developments in rural China and the microfinance sector.<ref name="Wokai Blog">[http://www.wokai.org/blog]</ref>