Microloans are one way to help small business owners and promote prosperity in third world nations. A microloan is a small sum of money lent at a low-interest rate to a new business. It is typically lent from a single individual or group rather than a bank or credit union. Borrowers can use the microloan as startup funding for a small business, which will help them not only pay back the microloan but also help them prosper economically. Businesses benefitting from microloans may not otherwise have the startup funding needed to launch their business – in other words, their livelihood may be dependent upon the ability to obtain microloans.

Tala is one such microloan company that works in third world countries. They operate in Mexico, Kenya, India, and the Philippines. Tala offers an app that instantly underwrites and disburses loans to people who have never had a formal credit history. These loans can range from $10 to $500. Anyone who has access to an Android smartphone can apply for a Tala loan in minutes, and money is sent directly to the borrower.

Tala launched its app in 2011 to offer instant credit to people in underrepresented markets in Africa and Asia and expanded over the next few years.  

When Tala approached us to have our experts build their marketing and community sites, we were thrilled at the chance to alleviate poverty through our software development work.  

At Vivus, our main strength lies in our ability to develop a customized solution to help improve the overall functioning and productivity of your business. So, we were excited to help Tala expand and serve a greater user base – and do so in an efficient and effective manner -- by developing several web resources including a blog, as well as community and marketing sites. On these web platforms, borrowers could learn more about the microloan process, as well as connect and communicate with other borrowers to help them in their journey towards greater economic prosperity as a small business owner. We were also excited about the humanitarian and philanthropic mission of Tala and were enthusiastic to team up with them to create their web platforms to help alleviate poverty in the third world.

A Resource for Entrepreneurs in the Third World

Vivus worked with Tala to create their global marketing site as well as regional marketing sites for Kenya and India. The goal of these sites was to promote Tala, not only internationally, but also to cater to local communities in which Tala operated which could stand to benefit the most by offering resources for microloan users.

We worked with Tala to set up their blog, not only as a global resource but also as a regional resource for people in Kenya, the Phillippines, and Mexico. The blog features relevant news and information for microlenders and microloan recipients and serves as an informational resource for Tala users. 

We also developed community sites for residents of Kenya and the Phillippines. These sites are also meant to serve as a web resource to help microloan recipients be better able to gain economic prosperity and escape poverty.

The sites we built are multi-country resources for users to learn about money management, as well as starting and designing business. We used Wordpress, MySQL, and custom PHP code to build these sites.

• Web Content Management using Wordpress. The popular web platform Wordpress is an easy-to-use interface that makes it easy to write, publish, and manage blog and website posts.
• Web Database Management using MySQL. MySQL is a relational database management system which can be used for a wide range of purposes but is commonly used as a powerful web database tool for the backend of websites.
• Web Development using custom PHP code. Custom PHP code can be embedded into website HTML, or used together with web template systems, web content management, and web frameworks. 

Tala approached us regarding new sites such as communities, local and global blogs, and marketing sites, and we got to work developing a customized solution that could both be powerful and easily accessible for internet users in the third world. The products we created for Tala are both user-friendly and easy to maintain due to our reliance on the popular web publishing software Wordpress. Thanks to our work on their blog, community, and marketing sites, we are thrilled that Tala can now reach an even broader audience and help them achieve economic prosperity.