A new startup Gradifi has launched an app that aims to solve the $1.3 trillion student loan debt crisis in America. This ambitious app offers companies the ability to directly pay down their employee’s student loan principal.
The issue of student loans in The United States is a growing problem, where millions of students are buried in loans so large that they sometimes aren’t paid off until they are 50 or 60 years old. Gradifi ties in to the topics of entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, and social entrepreneurship that were discussed in class. This app shows an instance where a private company can help to solve a major societal issue, while also turning a profit. The start-up offers a win-win for the companies that buy its technology, as the companies can attract talented employees and lets them help students pay off their debts. Gradifi’s value proposition is characteristic of all social enterprises’, offering a win-win to two different parties. Therefore, by giving corporations the opportunity to help their employees pay their students loans, Gradifi typifies a social enterprise.
With a partnership with PwC already, and other partnerships coming in the financial and technology industries, Gradifi has seemingly pinpointed a niche market of corporations looking to help student hires, with a value proposition that addresses the concerns of corporations, students, and society as whole. The student loan crisis will undoubtedly become a larger issue as the USA approaches elections in 2016, but in the meantime, we can certainly expect to see Gradifi making a difference on their own.
Article Link:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliesportelli/2015/10/29/startup-gradifi-has-a-solution-for-the-1-3-trillion-student-loan-debt-crisis/
