EverGift Successfully Completes First Loan in the Dominican Republic
Miami, Florida (June 26, 2015) – EverGift is proud to announce the successful completion of their first loan in the Dominican Republic. Founded by Matt Wanderer and Michael Douroux in 2008, EverGift lends donor and sponsor dollars to organizations allowing for an increase in small-loans to social entrepreneurs. Their latest investment empowered a group of young women in the Dominican Republic to launch their own private company, called Cuidame DR, which provides nanny and elderly care services to their community
Recent graduates of the DREAM Project’s A Ganar program, these 8 young women completed a 6 month training course in both health care and entrepreneurship, developing capacity in first aid, first response, early childhood education, hospice services, all while improving their fluency in English. In conjunction with DREAM and the DR Ministry of Health, these young entrepreneurs formed their own business, creating a marketing strategy, organizational structure, business plan and eventual employment.
Jonathan Wunderlich, Executive Development Advisor, worked closely on this project and declared, “The partnership between EverGift and DREAM, in particular Cuidame, has been a perfect example of how a small group of young entrepreneurs can participate in an innovative training, create a business model and make it happen. This process starts with desire for change, then self-motivation, training and finally, the critical component, a modest investment financially. All of these components are critical, but that final act of faith, the loan, pushes an idea into action. This is what EverGift has done, take an idea, inspire a group of disadvantaged women and make a dream come true!”
Through participating in Cuidame , the young women were all offered full time employment, reaching their goal and fulfilling their ultimate dream. Joana Camacho, a participant in the program proclaimed, “Cuidame has been a great experience for me, as it has developed my sense of responsibility and educated me on the value of things…DREAM & EverGift together formed an important part of my professional development, giving me the opportunity to learn a trade, at the same time launching my own business.” Along with their full-time jobs, the young women continue to manage Cuidame, and exemplify a true success story for EverGift and the social entrepreneurship initiative.
To learn more about EverGift and the DREAM Project visit www.evergift.org and www.dominicandream.org.
