Mission:
To engage students in entrepreneurship for social change through microfinance
Programs:
Gumball Challenge – Is a microfinance-benefit competition designed to inspire and direct young entrepreneurs toward creating social impact.
Gumball Fund – Supports many organizations that share a passion for local and global entrepreneurship
Gumball University an online portal for social entrepreneurship and features a community blog, a 10-week course on social entrepreneurship, and tons of advice and ideas for budding social entrepreneurs.History:
Gumball Capital started in February 2007 when we competed in the Stanford Entrepreneurship Week Challenge. We came in to the Challenge as a few kids interested microfinance, the act of giving small loans to help low-income entrepreneurs grow their businesses. We came out of the competition with a big group of microfinance evangelists who spread the word to tons of students, and raised over $1,800 for microfinance loans. We also took home the grand-prize for Most Value Created!
After our success at E-Week, Gumball Capital began in earnest. We incorporated over the summer of 2007 and created the Gumball Challenge, which was run at five colleges in November of 2007 and another 5 colleges in November of 2008. We have raised over $13,000 for the Gumball Fund and engaged hundreds of students across the country.
Over the last year, we’ve made it to the semi-final round of the Social E-Challenge and the Uuni Big Idea Competition, in addition to being featured in the movie Imagine It! We also recently received 501(c)3 tax-deductibility status and several recognitions from Ashoka Youth Venture and DoSomething.org.
Moving forward, we are excited to launch our resource and portal for entrepreneurship- the Gumball University. We are also expanding the Gumball Challenge to even more schools across the country, in conjunction with our partner Campus Kiva.
Why Gumballs:
It’s a metaphor for change. By placing a small amount of money in a gumball machine you allow a gumball to roll out. That one released gumball shifts all the remaining gumballs, moving them one step closer to the exit tunnel.
Gumball Capital works the same way. With each small loan we give to an entrepreneur (student or otherwise), they “roll out” and attain greater confidence and stability. Upon repayment, that one entrepreneur’s loan is channeled to a whole new set of entrepreneurs (through the Challenge and the Fund), moving them one step closer to the “exit tunnel.” It’s essentially a cycle of entrepreneurs empowering entrepreneurs.
