I was browsing through our website today, looking for inspiration, when I came across this on our communities page:
I see this graphic fairly frequently, but I have to admit I haven’t actually taken the time to look closely at it for a while. It’s one of those things that you become so familiar with that you cease to think about, like the comfort level of your couch or driving to the grocery store.
However, something clicked when I slid my eyes across the screen today, and I took a moment to internalize the numbers displayed there. I am certainly glad I did – there are several amazing statistics crammed into this infographic, but there is one I’d like to point out in particular.
It’s the country count.
I saw the number, and immediately had to go do some digging to verify its accuracy. What I saw only confirmed my suspicion: Individuals from 21 different countries around the world are active and lenders on Vittana’s site. Not only that, but they are broadly spread out geographically:
This completely blew me away. We have always said that Vittana is a global community dedicated to increasing access to education through student loans, but the proof is truly in the pudding here. People from countries as broadly spread as Spain and Australia, Myanmar and Croatia have come together to help students from places just as far flung go to school.
And what’s more, this only represents the 15 percent or so of our lenders who have chosen to fill in their country information and make it public. There could be many more countries represented in the Vittana community that just haven’t been listed (people in South America and Africa – I’m looking at you). If you have an account on our site and haven’t yet updated your information, it’s simple: just log in, click on your name in the top right-hand corner, then click on the “edit” button, again in the top right-hand corner.
The point in all of this is that it is truly inspiring to see the wide variety of individuals that have come together to make a loan, participate in the community, and help a student go to school. As we near Vittana’s one-year anniversary in May, I think taking a moment to look at the growth that has already occurred is necessary – and humbling.
So hello to our lenders spread across the globe, and thank you for your role in making Vittana a true community crossing geographic and cultural boundaries. Together we can put students in school, one loan at a time.
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