articles link to it . please introduce links to this page from related articles ; try the find link tool for suggestions . january 2012 investours type non profit organization industry economic development ; educational tourism founded 2008 pilot program ; incorporated may 2010 key people investours team website www.investours.org investours is an organization that bridges the gap between microfinance and educational tourism . it is a non profit organization with operations in tanzania . investours mission is to provide travelers meaningful cross cultural interactions that empower micro entrepreneurs and directly stimulate local economic growth . 1 contents 1 how it works 2 history 3 publicity 4 see also 5 references 6 external links how it works edit investours is an international non profit organization that leverages the resources generated by tourism to promote economic development in the communities surrounding puerto vallarta mexico and dar es salaam tanzania . in both locations investours hosts microfinance tours . they bring travelers to meet local artisans who have applied for micro loans to grow small business projects such as dressmaking woodcarving or food preparation . the tour group gains an intimate perspective on local culture and daily life while directly witnessing the power of microfinance . the group also enjoys a traditional meal and off the beaten path sightseeing . this is an experience travelers feel good about because investours uses their tour fees to offer long term financial support to the small businesses involved on the tours . history edit in 2008 inspired by trip sweeney s idea that microfinance tours could serve as an effective alternative to slum tours 2 ashwin kaja traveled to oaxaca mexico to conduct research on the topic . in mexico he developed a unique model for microfinance tourism that serves as the core of the investours program today . in oaxaca ashwin introduced the idea for investours to carlos topete the director of a spanish language institute in the city who was excited by its potential . ashwin and carlos worked together to establish a pilot program to test the idea and so investours was born . 3 over the next two years the investours pilot program ran dozens of tours with hundreds of tourists that provided interest free micro loans to over 120 entrepreneurs . 4 5 this was made possible by a number of people including david kim lain heringman emily berens and kurt mansperger . the pilot program was completed in early 2010 carlos topete left the investours team in february 2010 and is now continuing to support the businesses of participants in the investours pilot program as well as new entrepreneurs in the oaxaca area through a new organization called fundaci n en v a. 6 formally incorporated as a non profit organization in the united states in may 2010 assisted by the harvard law school transactional law clinics investours is now focusing on scaling its powerful microfinance tourism model around the world establishing partnerships with microfinance institutions focused on poverty reduction . anna ruman and ryan pukos launched an investours program in puerto vallarta mexico in partnership with se mas microfinanzas . 7 katie ranhorn and heshan illangkoon are developing a program in dar es salaam tanzania in partnership with maisha finance . current directors of this dar program include peter millanga . 8 due to the natural evolution of the mexico program in early 2014 leaders decided to officially branch the mexico program from investours into an independent organization they called human connections . human connections is a social enterprise that maintains a strong relationship with investours and continues to grow the programming investours began tours internship programs and academic seminars aimed at fostering positive cross cultural exchange . publicity edit in addition to coverage of the oaxaca pilot program investours has been featured in el sayulero a local media outlet ; 9 innotour a educational resource on tourism sponsored by the university of southern denmark ; 10 mykro a microfinance blog ; 11 and what s happening in dar a local publication . 12 see also edit sustainable development portal social entrepreneurship microfinance human connections references edit investours organization and mission why we need micro loans instead of slum tourism . trip sweeney matador network march 7 2007 ann brooks photography photojournalism art photography studio happenings & resources oaxaca microfinance startup lets tourists fund oaxaca area artisans allison sherry the denver post 04 21 2010 . missives from oaxaca nico crisafulli airtreks travel blog november 25 2009 . oaxaca s en via a day that pays peace partners with investours and se mas microfinanzas in innovative microfinance initiative keph senett pv pulse 17 january 2011 . dar es salaam investours trip details local entrepreneur uses investours interest free loan to revamp sayulita restaurant april 28th 2011 innovation cases investours combining travelling and microfinancing november 16th 2010 . new concept of microfinance tours jerry ostradicky 20 november 2010 . bridging cultural tourism & microfinance go on an investour and help fight poverty in dar es salaam tanzania nicole lulham july 2011 . bridging cultural tourism and microfinance in dar es salaam tanzania by nicole lulham http blog.sustainablecities.net 2011 06 21 bridging cultural tourism and microfinance external links edit investours se mas microfinanzas maisha finance retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title investours & oldid 721756529 categories microfinance organizationsnon profit organizations based in the united statesorganizations established in 2008philanthropic organizationssocial enterprisesorganisations based in tanzaniahidden categories orphaned articles from january 2012all orphaned articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 23 may 2016 at 21 48 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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