Hitachi to Provide $1 Million in Loans through Kiva to Businesses in Need around the Globe, Affected by the Spread of the COVID-19

May 18, 2020 13:24 JST

Source: Hitachi, Ltd.

TOKYO, May 18, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) today announced that it will make a contribution of USD 1 million to Kiva's COVID-19 Response to support business owners impacted by COVID-19 through loans by Kiva, a U.S. nonprofit organization that supports lending to small businesses, entrepreneurs, farmers and families around the world through crowdfunding. Hitachi is a first major contributor to Kiva's Global COVID-19 fund, a new program that will allow Kiva to fund the communities that have been hit hardest by this crisis. As repayments from these loans return to Hitachi's account, they will fund new loans over a 4-year period, after which the balance will be a donation to Kiva.

Kiva is a global nonprofit organization whose mission is to expand financial access to underserved communities and the 1.7 billion people in the world who do not have access to financial services. Kiva facilitates loans to borrowers through their online crowdfunding platform, and to date 1.9 million people have funded over USD 1.44 billion in loans to 3.6 million borrowers in 77 countries. Hitachi has made a new contribution of USD 1 million to Hitachi's Kiva fund to support small business operators affected by the spread of the COVID-19, in addition to the first contribution of USD 100,000 in 2017.

Specifically, Hitachi Group employees will have an opportunity to choose business owners affected by COVID-19, and make a loan of USD 25 from the Hitachi fund. Hitachi also hopes to engage their community in Kiva's COVID-19 response through Hitachi's social media accounts. Individuals who make a loan on Kiva first, will receive an additional USD 25 credit on behalf of Hitachi, to lend to another borrower. Any remaining funds will be used to match loans made on the Kiva platform. By engaging employees and the community, Hitachi will provide financial support of USD 1 million in total to the small business operators all over the world.

Comment from Hidenobu Nakahata, Senior Vice President and Executive Officer, CHRO, Hitachi, Ltd.
"All Hitachi employees are working on the COVID-19 spread prevention by collecting ideas in the Hitachi Group internal idea contest "Make a difference!" in addition to supplying masks and other goods and manufacturing and providing face shields free of charge. The loans through the Kiva platform are realized by "Make a difference!". Hitachi will contribute to realization of a sustainable society through Hitachi's employees' proactive commitment to financial support through Kiva for the business operators affected by the spread of COVID-19."

Comment from Neville Crawley, CEO at Kiva
"At Kiva, we are incredibly proud to launch a COVID-19 response fund with the support of Hitachi. It is through this response that we are able to accelerate the necessary loans required to support all people when they need it the most. Currently, we are seeing a financial support gap, the most vulnerable are being left behind and we need to provide our support to them. Our vision has always been financial inclusivity and now it is more important than ever. We thank Hitachi and their amazing employees for their support."

Join Hitachi's social media community and help small business owners around the world affected by the pandemic through KIVA.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is focusing on Social Innovation Business combining its operational technology, information technology and products. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2018 (ended March 31, 2019) totaled 9,480.6 billion yen ($85.4 billion), and the company has approximately 296,000 employees worldwide. Hitachi delivers digital solutions utilizing Lumada in five sectors including Mobility, Smart Life, Industry, Energy and IT, to increase our customer's social, environmental and economic value. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com.

Source: Hitachi, Ltd.
Sectors: Daily News