New York, NY - July 15, 2009 - To join in the worldwide celebration of Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday on July 18, 2009, Shared Interest, the leading U.S. nonprofit social investment fund facilitating credit and technical assistance to black South Africans, announced the launch of new microfinance investments on MicroPlace www.microplace.com, a website that enables everyday people to invest in the world's working poor.

Shared Interest has been inspired by Mandela's tireless dedication to his country and his people, as well as by his recognition of the organization's efforts over many years. In one message, Mandela told them, "Your contribution toward making available credit, creating jobs, encouraging small business and providing affordable homes and viable communities for economically disenfranchised South Africans will be particularly remembered. Your unflagging partnership - as necessary now as it was in 1994 - has helped us develop new strategies and tools to give substance and shape to the vision and energies of our people. We look forward to continuing that work which is based on a shared interest."

Shared Interest is pledged to growing that work. When the organization launched its guarantee fund after the fall of apartheid in 1994, the smallest loan the organization was able to take from individuals or institutions was $10,000. Over time, it lowered that threshold to $3,000. Today with the launch of its collaboration with MicroPlace, an online investment marketplace that enables everyday people to invest in the world's working poor, the minimum investment to enable a microloan has now dropped to $20.

"Shared Interest is pleased to be working with MicroPlace to supply impoverished South Africans with financial tools to build a new society - and to provide people of all incomes in the U.S. with the opportunity to be part of that transformation," stated Donna Katzin, Shared Interest’s Executive Director. "The movement to end apartheid was constructed by thousands of 'ordinary' people in South Africa and around the world. Our presence on MicroPlace.com will enable many such women and men to join in the next phase of building a just nation where human rights include the right to economic development and freedom from unemployment and poverty."

Many realize that Mandela’s fight for economic and social justice for all South Africans continues, and that Shared Interest is at the forefront of that movement.

"By listing Shared Interest on our site, we are doing our part to channel funds to entrepreneurs on the front lines of the campaign to end poverty in South Africa and the surrounding region," affirmed Ashwini Narayanan, general manager of MicroPlace. "Shared Interest's 15-year track record provides a solid base for this important work."

Since 1994 Shared Interest has assisted more than 1.8 million black South Africans living in rural and township communities. With its listing on MicroPlace, Shared Interest can accept investments of less than the cost of a dinner out to support meaningful and impactful poverty alleviation projects such as the Siboshwa cooperative.

The Siboshwa Cooperative is an agricultural project located in the remote eastern corner of Mpumalanga Province, close to the Mozambican border. More than 50 years ago, apartheid authorities rounded up residents of the community in trucks - without notice, shot their cattle, allowed them to take only what they could carry in their arms - and dumped them on inhospitable land. Today, the Siboshwa community has organized an agricultural cooperative on that land and, with the help of a Shared Interest guarantee, is raising commercial sugar cane for the first time.

About Shared Interest
To date, Shared Interest's $12.4 million dollar guarantee fund has leveraged credit of more than $100 million to struggling communities throughout South Africa. In its 15 year history, it has benefitted over 1.8 million South Africans, built 75,000 homes and created and strengthened 586,000 businesses.

About MicroPlace
MicroPlace www.microplace.com, launched in 2007, is a website that enables everyday people to invest in the world’s working poor. As an online investment marketplace whose mission it is to alleviate global poverty, MicroPlace is paving the way to enable a billion people to lift themselves out of poverty. MicroPlace is a wholly-owned subsidiary of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY).

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