Amazon announced a joint pilot program with Lendistry called Amazon Community Lending for small and medium-sized sellers. The new program will provide loans to help fund sellers’ strategic business needs, such as inventory expansion, brand building, and customer acquisition.
Lendistry is an established minority-led Community Development Financial Institution that serves urban and rural small businesses in socially and economically distressed communities.
It will provide term loans for US Amazon sellers targeting a range from $10,000 to $100,000 with periods of up to two years and annual percentage rates generally ranging between 8% and 9.9%.
Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president for worldwide consumer trust and partner support, said in Tuesday’s announcement, “Lendistry shares our commitment to championing underrepresented populations of business owners, knowing they often lack access to traditional methods of accessing capital and similar economic opportunities.”
Amazon Lending began offering loans to sellers in 2011 and said year to date, Amazon and third-party lending partners have lent more than $800 million to small and medium-sized businesses in the US to support their growth.
You can find more information in the press release on the AboutAmazon.com website.
