Kiva Changes Lives

What do a dairy farmer in Kenya, a hardware store owner in Mexico, and a construction worker in Cambodia have in common? All of them are entrepreneurs and all of them are working themselves out of poverty and into a better life with help from $25 loans made through Kiva.org.

Kiva was founded by Mathew and Jessica Flannery, a socially-minded American couple whose working experiences in Africa gave them the opportunity to observe local entrepreneurs firsthand. What they saw were creative, hardworking people with solid business ideas but no access to working capital. From that need, Kiva was born.

Kiva uses the power of the web to directly connect everyday philanthropists with entrepreneurs in impoverished countries. For example, the dairy farmer in Kenya, Margaret Njeri Njenga, is sponsored by Rebecca in New South Wales, Stephen in Minneapolis and Sue in Saratoga, among others, each of whom has made a small loan to Margaret to help her buy animal feed. It’s called microfinancing and it’s changing lives one loan at a time.

The brilliance of Kiva is its internet base that eliminates the high overhead of traditional sponsorship programs, allows a direct connection between the entrepreneur and his or her sponsor, and provides affordable working capital to people who would otherwise have either no access to funding or only at exorbitant interest rates. Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the field that vet the loans and work with the entrepreneurs to help increase their chances of success. Each of these MFI field partners must successfully complete Kiva’s due diligence process, which includes strict compliance with Anti-Terror guidelines.

Another exceptional element of Kiva is their Fellows Program. Fellows travel to host countries where they live and work with MFIs for a minimum of 10 weeks. During that time, Fellows chronicle the life and culture of the Kiva entrepreneurs and the impact the loans have on their lives and their families. Journals, along with video and photos taken by Fellows are uploaded regularly to Kiva.org where sponsors can read and respond to them. The fellowships are unpaid, volunteer positions that offer an opportunity for cultural immersion, international friendships and grass roots change.

Sponsors have the satisfaction of not only seeing their money put towards a tangible, traceable good, but of also knowing that they have helped a person earn their own way out of poverty. From just a $25 loan, that’s a priceless experience.