Archive for March, 2010
Kiva Lebanon: Ameen is in the MIX (literally)
The global economic crisis presented additional challenges to microfinance institutions around the world. Yet, Kiva partner, Ameen s.a.l. in Lebanon managed to keep its place in the MIX Global 100 Ranking * and impressively, moved up the rankings from #87 in 2008 to #17 in 2009. I was fortunate to spend a few minutes with the young and charismatic General Manager of Ameen, Mr. Ziad Halaby, to learn more about Ameen’s organizational strategy and to hear his thoughts on why Ameen has remained a top performer in Lebanon and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Unmasking Kiva’s Face: the Process Behind the Profile
This is Kiva’s face. When you look the photo in the eyes the borrower’s story smiles back at you. Financial data dangling on the side accents the overall visage: a tidy, friendly invitation to the lending community.
(Disclaimer: this post is for the planners and the detail lovers. An up-close look at the nuts and bolts of bringing Kiva borrowers to the world. Process geeks, by all means continue. Other concerned investors, let this shed light on the operational costs of your capital. Everyone else, I’d like to direct your attention for the inspiration of this post: the first ever Kiva borrower from Burundi! Please enjoy a video in celebration.)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OVJcTvgsNY]Serving the Ordinary: The strength of microfinance
Four months ago, my starry-eyed impression of microfinance was shaken during my first interview with a borrower (on my third day as a Kiva Fellow with CREDIT MFI), who told me that she had pulled her children from school so that they could help with her business. Though this reveals a possible negative impact of microlending, I have come to discover that what is attractive and important about this development tool is precisely that it is not glamorous or sexy.
Continue Reading 30 March 2010 at 06:35 voyageons 3 comments
On HIV, Serenity and Microfinance
There is arguably a problem larger than poverty in southern Africa. Although not reaching the levels of neighbouring Swaziland, whose mid-term future as a country and people is uncertain, HIV is rife in Mozambique. One in six adults is estimated to carry antibodies for the disease, as are over 100,000 children.
Earth Hour comes to Mongolia!
“On March 27, 2010, an estimated one billion people around the world came together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for just one hour—Earth Hour.” Starting at 8:30pm in New Zealand and following the setting sun around the world, Earth Hour asked people to turn off their lights for one hour, adding up to a global 24 hours without lights. Internationally recognizable monuments like the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, even the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil slipped into darkness for an hour on the 27th for the cause. The excitement and enthusiasm for Earth Hour even made its way to Mongolia!
Continue Reading 29 March 2010 at 23:45 Beth Ritchey 1 comment
Video: Follow Your $25 to Vietnam, EPISODE 2!
Dear Kiva Lender,
A few weeks ago, I created a video introduction to what you might experience if you followed the money you lent on Kiva to Vietnam. This time, meet the local staff and credit officers of the local micro-finance institution who make the magic happen. You’ll hear of a credit officer’s story of the impact that micro-credit has had on her family directly. Hope you enjoy!
Capitalists are Kinder: Microfinance and Fairness
By Peter Marchant, KF10 Azerbaijan
A new study led by University of British Columbia anthropologist Joseph Henrich found that active market participants tend to treat strangers more fairly. To the extent that Microfinance encourages market participation and supplants the need for top-down development models like direct aid, these results indicate that it may also encourage borrowers to adopt fairer attitudes towards those outside of their immediate social circle.
Mini Carga desde 1 Boliviano (Mini-Recharge from 1 Boliviano)
Everywhere I go in Bolivia I see huge billboards that advertise “Mini Carga desde 1 Bs” (Mini recharge from 1 Boliviano) with a picture of a guy holding a 1 Boliviano coin and a cellphone.
Mini Carga desde 1 Boliviano (Mini-Recharge from 1 Boliviano)
Mini Carga desde 1 Boliviano
After having my Bolivian cellphone for only a day, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why companies were advertising such a small sum of money to recharge your pre-paid phone. Especially since a phone call of a few seconds would eat that 1 Boliviano before you could say “hola” (although text messages are much cheaper, around 20 Bolivian cents each depending on the company – Entel, Tigo or Viva). It seemed so inefficient. But then I talked to a friend who has lived in Bolivia longer than I have, after which I couldn’t help but think of the similarities between mini carga and microfinance.
So here’s the scoop…
Continue Reading 28 March 2010 at 05:30 lethalsheethal 2 comments
Who is ADIM anyway?
- ADIM is The Alternative Association for the Integral Development of Women,
- ADIM is one field partner in Nicaragua who works with Kiva – choosing borrowers, taking their pictures, collecting repayments… all the stuff going on behind the scenes,
- ADIM is an awesome microfinance institution, and I’m not the only one who thinks so…
The Greatest Generation: Cambodia’s Inspirational Young Professionals
Lend to a borrower in Cambodia and you’re making a sound investment. Aside from exhibiting extremely low loan default rates, Cambodian Kiva borrowers are clients of well-established and well-run microfinance organizations. They live in a country that enjoyed double-digit economic growth for much of the past decade, doubling per-capita income in the process. While praising the benefits of this growth in alleviating poverty and improving quality of life here, in 2009 the World Bank cautioned that this growth is “unlikely to be sustainable in its current form”. I agree with their analysis, but would argue continued growth is inevitable because the strength and comparative advantage of Cambodia’s economy lies in something quite durable: human capital. Cambodia’s human capital is impressive in that it is shaped and sustained by an obvious but mostly intangible quality: young Cambodians’ extraordinarily strong work ethic and ambition.
Unexpected Linkages: Lebanon and Africa
In my last blog entry, I commented on the international service workers in Lebanon. As these workers are often from underdeveloped countries (relative to Lebanon), this group represents a fascinating social dynamic in the country. Also interesting is that a sizeable chunk of the Lebanese population is engaged in work abroad, often in African countries. However unlike the thousands of Egyptians that work in manual labor or service jobs in countries like Jordan or the United Arab Emirates (both places I have lived and worked), many of the Lebanese that work in African countries are there as independent entrepreneurs or salaried employees in a diverse range of industries (food production, electronics, general commerce, etc.). I continue to be impressed by the high educational levels and business savvy of Lebanon’s people.
Why is the last borrower of the day always the most interesting?
By Meg Gray, KF10 Costa Rica
Yorlene showing off her organic lettuce starts
Well obviously that’s not always true, but it feels like it sometimes. In this case, I have a particular day and a particular borrower- Yorlene Solano Rodríguez – in mind. At the end of a very long day last week, I met Yorlene at her house. It was getting dark and the FUDECOSUR loan officer I was with was anxious to get home. And of course, she had the most interesting story I had heard all day. All borrowers have interesting stories, but Yorlene was eager to tell me hers, which often makes all the difference.
Not surprisingly, Yorlene’s business is much more complicated than it appears in her profile on Kiva. As her profile says, she used her Kiva loan to buy 3 calves. She is planning to keep the calves for a year or year and a half until they are fattened up and big enough to sell. Though her borrower profile stops there, her business initiatives certainly don’t.
While she is raising the calves, she is collecting the cow poop and, in collaboration with 4 friends, composting it into organic fertilizer. (more…)
Its all about the Innovation!
Walking down the streets of Lima’s largest district San Juan de Lurigancho, the sidewalks are lined with microfinance banks. Peru’s microfinance industry has seen tremendous growth over the last 10 years, thanks mostly to a strong regulatory framework and considerable demand from the informal sector. As the industry has grown, NGOs and for-profit banks have increased their scope, saturating Lima’s urban markets and spilling over into the unbanked regions in the south and north. However, many institutions simply scale with a one size fits all loan, not necessarily tailored for their clients needs. Given the range of economic realities of clients across Peru, microfinance could be much more effective if tailored to those different economic contexts.
International Women`s Day Celebration at EDAPROSPO. These clients will be able to solicit college education loans for their university age children starting next month.
Throwing My Workboks Out the Window
By Brian Kelly, KF10, Sri Lanka
Sometimes you think you are equipped to take on a difficult situation and use your experience and skills to dive in headfirst and solve it, or at least provide some help to improve upon the current status quo. It may be a situation you’ve seen before, or one where you know your skill set or knowledge is applicable to improve it – at least if you were tackling this problem in a familiar and native environment. And that’s exactly the problem right there, and why as a Fellow I’m having to throw some things out the window. (more…)
Healthy Lending
By Julia Kastner, KF10 Mexico
Mexico shares a major problem with its northern neighbor. No, I’m not referring to the drug trade, which has left 18,000 Mexicans dead since 2006 (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8582497.stm for more), although this is obviously Mexico’s biggest problem both socially and economically. In this case, I’m referring to obesity. According to a study by the OECD, 24.2% of Mexico’s population is obese, which makes Mexico the second-most obese country in the world, second only to the United States at 30.6%.
Getting schooled at your bank
In addition to loans (and savings accounts, social work, and coming soon – insurance) Alidé, Kiva’s field partner in Benin, offers formations, or training sessions, to its clients. Some are optional but there are three that are actually mandatory for a loan.
Samoan Donut War: A Microfinance Success Story
In the spirit of Dunkin’ Donuts vs. Crispy Cream, a fierce donut competition is raging on a small street in tropical Samoa.
When Borrowers become Lenders, and Heroes in the process
Yuryi and Tatyana Syomkin own an auto parts and body shop in the small village of Mikhailovka, Ukraine. They’re the only business in the area that can provide quality auto parts and vehicle repairs. Last month, the mayor of a neighboring village called Tatyana when their school bus broke down. The mayor asked if Yuryi would be willing to fix the bus on credit, the village government wouldn’t be able to pay the Syomkins for the job until later. In such a small community, Tatyana told me, it’s hard to say no when you’re asked for help. Not to mention when the mayor calls and asks you to fix the village school bus. And so Yuryi and Tatyana obliged, as they always do; they’re still waiting for the 7,000 hryvnas they’re owed for the job.
Tatyana and Yuryi Syomkin waved to me from their shop
Scaling in a Saturated Market: The Kenyan Experience
Seventeen young, scared faces sit around the board room for the full-day training of new marketers. I had been present the day that this new crop of SMEP employees was being interviewed. They had assembled en masse at our head office; many of them looking like the suit they were wearing had been hastily purchased at one of the local secondhand markets in anticipation of their first job interview. In fact, they were what I refer to as “babies” the young-ish, newly graduated staffers whose faces more often look up at me when I am conducting trainings at the SMEP branch offices all over Kenya.
I don’t call them babies to disparage them, but actually to highlight the new crop of SMEP employees that is fresh-faced and wide-eyed, ready to take on challenges and work for the first MFI in Kenya.
The 17 new marketers take a while to warm up during the training – they seem scared to speak, and I think back to employee trainings I have been in the United States, where each one of us struggles to prove ourselves by opening our mouths and commenting on every nugget of information offered by the trainer. These new recruits are the latest line of offense on SMEP’s push to capture more market share in a country where microfinance is overwhelmingly popular.
D-Day in Liberia
In Liberia, D-Day is a regular occurrence. Disbursal Day, that is.
Microfinance is a key part of the post-conflict recovery, and LEAP, Kiva’s Liberian field partner, is at the forefront. LEAP (the Local Enterprise Assistance Program) is Liberia’s oldest continuously operating microfinance lender, and the largest by number of borrowers and amount lent.
Continue Reading 22 March 2010 at 09:12 John Briggs 8 comments
I am here to confiscate your property
I used to work in the credit card industry for a major bank in London, looking at portfolios in the developed world. One of my biggest surprises when I started working with my MFI was the fact that they are much pushier than their European and American counterparts when it comes to asking for loan repayments. Before approving a loan, an assessment of the equity of the borrower is performed; and some or most of his property is offered as collateral. This is usually a fridge, a television or a piece of furniture. If a borrower starts to fall behind with his payments, different things may happen depending on the severity of the delinquency.
My Right Hand Man, Sesenio
It is becoming increasingly obvious to me, living here in the Philippines, that SO often money does not go into the right hands. The two main shopping malls on the island of Bohol are owned by wealthy Chinese business men. Chain stores like Chow King, McDonalds, and Jollibee are filled with customers. When you ask people what they do in the weekend the common answer is “malling” or window shopping. Malls are synonymous with air conditioning. Air con means escaping the heat. Less people shop in the open markets and side of the road stalls. More people are drawn into the big chain stores.
And so the story goes, and it’s an old one, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. ENTER: Microfinance!
Filipino culture and microfinance
When I visit a new country, I am always fascinated to see how the social values differ from my own as a British born Indian. When I found out I would be heading to the Philippines, I was pleased to see that the cultural guides were richly filled with Filipino traits. It made my day when I read another Kiva Fellow’s blog about the most well known Filipino trait – ‘Bahala Na’ which means ’leave it to God’ . Along with Bahala Na, I wanted to share two other common traits that I believe make borrowers from the Philippines great candidates for micro-lending. Group loyalty (Pakikisama) and inclusion (Sakop).
Lebanon: Multiculturalism or Artfully Masked Discrimination?
Tailored advertisements for Lebanon's service workers
Lebanon is aesthetically beautiful with its lush greenery and seemingly endless miles of coastline flirting with the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea. In a region known for its vast deserts, Lebanon is certainly a strange exception. Living in ultra modern Beirut, it is easy to forget that the country has been plagued by war for generations. With its bustling cafes, gorgeous boardwalk (the “Corniche”) filled with street vendors, young lovers holding hands, and families walking carelessly as small children ride bicycles and eat chocolate bars or freshly grilled corn, Beirut sometimes feels like an urban paradise. As a middle-income country, Lebanon does not suffer from the same degree of poverty like Egypt and Syria. It also does not have the incredible wealth of countries like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Yet, there is an interesting social dynamic here that I did not expect to find….. (more…)
Messages in Bottles
I work for Kiva. Not just in the (very real) sense that, like all Kiva Fellows, I am doing important on-the-ground work with Kiva Field Partners that extends the reach of Kiva’s small and extremely dedicated staff—but also in the standard sense: I get a monthly paycheck from Kiva.
So why did I decide to cut my paycheck in half and devote the rest of my hours to working as a Kiva Fellow, for free?
More Signatures & Less Fingerprints
Going through borrower files I found finger prints in the signature line of many documents but didn’t think much about it until I went to the field to actually meet borrowers…
Al revisar expedientes de asociados (clientes) encontré varios documentos con huellas digitales en lugar de firmas. No le puse más atención hasta que salí de la oficina a conocer clientes…
Helping Haiti: Microfinance and Disaster Relief
This week President Obama reminded the world that, despite its slow drift to the back pages of the newspaper, the crisis in Haiti is far from over. What is the role of microfinance in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster (the first 30 days)? The short answer is that, under the circumstances, microcredit is less effective. A prerequisite for microcredit is a functioning economy. Goods and services need to be worth money for capital infusions to make a difference. For example, an MFI lends money to a woman for the purpose of opening a general store. The woman uses the loan to buy soap from one retailer and soft drinks from another. She hires a local contractor to build the addition on her home, or at least purchases the materials. The money flows around community, and everyone becomes wealthier. But in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, the communities served by microfinance are so devastated that the system doesn’t work. There is no electricity, no fuel, no food, no water, and no shelter. Homes have been destroyed and people are starving. A sack of rice becomes invaluable – to a starving person, no amount of money would lead them to part with food. So it becomes a barter economy, if there is anything to barter at all. As with everything, these points are best illuminated by example. The most obvious is the recent earthquake in Haiti. In reality, Haiti needs aid money, and it needs aid workers to deliver services. Microfinance – microcredit, in particular – cannot immediately help during the relief period because there is no economy to stimulate.
Continue Reading 19 March 2010 at 09:00 Josh Weinstein 3 comments
Making microfinance work in cities
My butt (pardon the language) was hurting from hours of riding pillion on my MFI field officer’s motorbike, my lungs were working overtime to dispel toxic fumes emitted by the large trucks on the roads, and my heart was still recovering from multiple seizures from dodging kids, dogs, chicken and other random objects dashing across the streets. We were on hour four of a field visit, and we had visited a total of…three borrowers.
Continue Reading 19 March 2010 at 01:03 Nadia Anggraini 6 comments
I didn’t know “model” was in my job description
As Kiva Fellows, we have to do a little bit of everything. Train loan officers. Verify borrower information. Write journals. And yes sometimes, model for photos as a fake small business owners. Well maybe model/fake business owner isn’t an everyday activity for me, but I think it demonstrates how many different types of things Kiva Fellows fall into in the field.
In this case it was a loan officer who had never used a digital camera before.
