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November 3rd, 2008 by Susanna QueenBee

I have been looking at Kiva.

This is their pitch…”Kiva is a person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.”

That’s the key word here – entrepeneurs. This isn’t give- a- child- a- bowl- of- rice but more along the lines of give Marisita a loan to buy- another- donkey for her traveling milkbar.

Like Maryam Fousseni of Togo for example. She wants to buy lengths of cloth, handbags and shoes. (La vente de pagnes, de sacs de sortie, et de chaussures.)

In Cambodia, Cheng Eng, 58-year-old widow, needs to hire a labourer for heavy ploughing.

I picked those two out because they appealed to me, particularly Maryam with her shoes and handbags.

You make loans of $25 or $50 toward a specific ‘entrepeneur’ and the loan is generally for a year. The idea is that someone wants a loan of $5000 and a number of people from round the globe lend $25.

Once again I will paste from Kiva

1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva’s microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur’s chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.

4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds

Here are some links for further reading

1. Kiva Chronicles
Follow the real-life story of a couple who decided to change the world, one loan at a time.

2. Social Actions

3. The Kiva Connection
Looks at the impact of microfinance on entrepreneurs in developing countries around the world, and follows a diverse group of entrepreneurs who received small loans through Kiva

4. Kiva Stories from the Field

Have a read through when you have the time, and then let me know what you think of it. Start reading with an open mind.

6 Responses

Jenny writes:

November 3rd, 2008 at 8:17 pm

I wouldn’t trust this scheme. With charity of any sort you need to know where the money is really going and…..with the financial crisis as it is, and credit therefore hard to get, this could be a ruse. I Haven’t checked it out though.

Maria writes:

November 3rd, 2008 at 9:26 pm

If this is a bonafide operation then it is brilliant. What a great Idea I love it and I hope it is real. I would love to be involved in something like this!!!

Lyndsey writes:

November 4th, 2008 at 7:57 am

Hi! I work for Kiva as a full-time volunteer at their headquarters in San Francisco. I noticed your blog, and I just wanted to chime in. I can tell you that Kiva is not a scheme, and that it is an organization that is having an ever-growing impact on alleviating global poverty. In just 3 years since its founding, Kiva has enabled nearly $50 million in cumulative loans to over 90,000 developing world entrepreneurs in over 40 developing world countries. Thanks to its more than 350,000 registered users/lenders, Kiva hopes that this impact will continue to grow in the coming years. Please browse the website to see the more than 300 loans that are fundraising on the site today (www.kiva.org/lend) or check out the independently run http://www.kivafriends.org for some unbiased commentary.

Thanks for your interest in Kiva!

Lisa writes:

November 4th, 2008 at 8:47 am

I read about Kiva somewhere quite a while ago – somewhere like the Big Issue – I’m not sure. I think it is an absolutely fantastic idea!

Jenny writes:

November 4th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

Well, for those who support charity then it sounds fine, although I saw a documentary of millionaires trying to help poor communities in Kenya or somewhere and there were a lot of problems communicating with the residents.

I still think the answer to world poverty is simply 4% of the US war budget. Yes I know it won’t happen, but I’m opposed to charity because while it exists, governments will not pick up the slack.

Susanna writes:

November 29th, 2008 at 11:13 am

But this is not a charity! Of course it would be nice if we had access to war budgets and used that money for equal access to health, education, housing and proper food for all. If only social justice could be obtained with the click of a mouse.