Author Archive
The Kiva-TLM Calendar
On my previous blog post, 77 is never too old to start a business, Jan commented that she would like to see the result of our TLM Kiva T-shirt Bonanza which took place last week (she heard about it by following TLM on Twitter, to do the same go here).
Fortunately, this also gave me the perfect excuse to express my thanks to Jan and John for their unwavering support of Kiva and the Fellows programme. For those of you who don’t know of them, Jan and John are professional grandparents from Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. In between their time grandparenting, lending on Kiva, chatting on Kiva Friends.org and driving the school bus (John), they find time to read and comment on almost every blog written by the Kiva Fellows. Their comments are consistently supportive, positive, and uplifting, and I’m sure have provided much-welcomed comfort for many blogging Fellows.
Jan & John (photo from their Kiva lender page)
Thank you Jan and John! I know I’ve really appreciated your kind comments. This thanks is also directed at the many other regular readers and commenters, and Kiva Friends who keep the blog going. Unilove that means you! J&J, I hope you don’t mind me writing about you and posting your picture, Kiva have trained me so well I feel like I should be getting releases signed everywhere I go.
This is sadly my last day as a Kiva Fellow and my last day with TLM. They’ve just showered me with gifts and taken me out for a slap-up lunch. I’ve sold my helmet and various other bits and bobs I accumulated along the way. Everyone has been incredibly friendly and welcoming here, they really really have. Don’t forget to check out the new TLM website – their first proper one in 12 years of operation, I know it’s basic but it’s the first proper website I’ve made too! And watch out for more TLM loans and video journals coming soon, plus a very special video project which will hopefully be happening in June (unfortunately I won’t be here).
And without further ado, I present the TLM-Kiva Calendar… coming soon to a store near you… maybe
January: TLM actually stands for Tanned Lending Machines. (l-to-r: Lambert, Ellen, Ida, Lenny, Shanty, and Herto)
April: The look this spring - Ice white Kiva t-shirts with customized limited edition TLM decoration
June: The Kiva Team (left to right: Kieran, Vience, Shanty, and Roni)
November: We never turn our back on a client (except to show them our Kiva t-shirts)
Thanks to Darren at Kiva for providing the funds for t-shirts. They will be worn many times I promise (looking around the office as I write this I can see a few in full effect).
Social Gardening a.k.a. 77 is never too old to start a business.
by Kieran Ball, KF6 & 7
“Poor people are like bonsai trees”, analogises Professor Mohammad Yunus, “Even choosing the best seed of the tallest tree, if you plant it in a small flower pot it cannot grow big. Society is the flower pot, the system we have built that keeps poor people from growing. The seed of the person is as good as the tallest tree, but we must change the system to let each person grow to their potential.”
Whilst Professor Yunus failed to mention that bonsai trees look totally hip on most coffee tables, this is still my all time favourite microfinance analogy.
I was reminded of it today, when I met a good seed.
Mr Zakarias Rassi is a seventy-seven year old Kiva entrepreneur from Baun village, West Timor. He is the group leader of the Cemara C group. I was visiting to do a journal on this group’s progress with their cattle fattening loan, and this was my second meeting with Zakarias. This time, while we were waiting for someone to find his log book, myself and Shanty, the Kiva coordinator, had a nice chat with this talkative and highly entertaining gentleman.
Zakarias Rassi sitting on his doorstep with the piglet that follows him everywhere
Zakarias stands a modest five-and-a-bit feet above the ground he has spent most of his life earning a living from. His mouth is constantly bright red from chewing on betelnuts (I tried one this week, the most bitter thing I’ve ever tasted) and his sun-beaten leathery brown skin does not do justice to his still clearly nimble and strong body.
Interesting fact number one: Zakarias has twelve children.
We started out with regular journal questions – how is the cow doing, is it getting fat, has it improved your life. He told us that he is a farmer by trade, but that this is his fourth cattle loan from TLM because it is a good way of supplementing his income. With the profit from selling his cows he has been able to buy a pig, send his remaining dependent children to school, and buy new clothes and shoes (no sign of these).
He says that he is able to get loans from TLM because they know he is diligent and intelligent. Of that I have no doubt. After seventy-seven years in a country where life expectancy for men is sixty-six, and still going strong, I guessed old Zakarias had more tricks up his sleeve than just a couple of cattle loans. I asked what they were.
Interesting fact number two: Zakarias has three houses and four motorbikes.
Zakarias told us that he had been a farmer in the same village since he was very young, but that on the side he has had several other business ventures to keep him going. In 1976, when he was in his forties, he started playing the stock market. The livestock market that is! (Sorry Kristy for stealing this excellent pun). He was buying and selling cows and pigs and abiding by the golden rule of trading: buy thin and sell fat.
Zakarias with his latest investment
By saving his profits he managed to purchase three houses in his village. He also bought four motorcycles which he lends to his sons who are motor-taxi drivers. I asked if he charges them for the use of the bikes. With a glint in his eye he told us that all revenues are returned to him, and if his sons need to buy anything for themselves, he decides whether to give them the money for it.
Before this he sold rice, vegetables, and fruit. With the proceeds of his current cattle loan, he plans to set up a kiosk and diversify his skill set further. It’s never to late to start something new.
Interesting fact number three: At the tender age of seventy, Zakarias married his second wife, aged seventeen.
If Zakarias lived in the UK he would probably be a wheeler dealer named Del Boy, a true rags-to-riches tale of hard work and shrewd decisions. But in a village in West Timor, owning three small wooden houses doesn’t equate to holidays in Florida and golf course membership. In fact, Zakarias and his wife still work every day in the fields tending to their crops and livestock, and his house is a tiny dark shack with none of the creature comforts you’d associate with a triple home owner.
Perhaps if Zakarias had lived on the other side of the small mountain range, in Kupang city, he would have several successful businesses and bigger, more luxurious houses by now. Perhaps if he had grown up in the USA, he’d be spending his later years relaxing on his yacht in the Bahamas rather than working in a field.
To expand on Yunus’ analogy, microfinance cannot change where your seed is planted. But it can give you a bigger pot to grow in. And get rid of some of those little ties that stop your branches from sprouting. Kiva and Kiva lenders are helping to make the pots bigger and better, and removing the ties – social gardeners working towards a larger global forest of entrepreneurs.
I now see why Professor Yunus did not expand on his analogy.
Zakarias is an example of how microfinance can reach individuals who really value the opportunity, but also a reminder not to expect miracles. Despite four consecutive loans, a good level of intelligence and diligence – even if he does say so himself – and a lifetime of hard work and saving, Zakarias still works long days in the field and lives in a wooden hut. Mind you, he has supported twelve children.
The real benefits will probably come generations down the line when his children who were able to go to school because of his cattle loans can get better jobs and send their children to university. I wonder if they will realise that it was all down to Great-Grandad Zakarias, the savvy entrepreneur and hard-working farmer from Baun village.
Zakarias is a client of TLM, one of Kiva’s newest field partners in West Timor, Indonesia. To view all TLM clients that are currently fundraising, go here.
Welcome, Kiva, to West Timor!
West Timor is the country equivalent of Robert Downey Senior. The usual reaction is “West Timor? I didn’t know there was a West Timor. But I’ve heard of East Timor so I suppose it makes sense”.
And indeed it does make sense, especially if you live here. West Timor, formerly a Dutch colony until it was un-clogged in 1945, is on an island towards the eastern side of Indonesia (Timur conveniently means “east” in Indonesian) but, it should be stressed, not the most easterly island as that is Papua and or West Papua (to clarify please see www.google.com), and is attached to East Timor, who (in)famously fought for and gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. It forms part of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tengarra, the poorest of all thirty-three provinces in Indonesia. It is also home to TLM, one of the newest Kiva field partners.
Tanaoba Lais Manekat (“Serve With Love”), or TLM for short, is a Christian organisation founded by the protestant church in 1994. Around eleven thousand clients are recipients of the TLM loans (and love) within the province. Some of the fortunate ones will shortly be receiving some Kiva love too!
TLM are aiming to grow their operations and client base rapidly, and Kiva is a big part of these plans. They are currently in their pilot phase so if you manage to find one of their loans before it’s fully funded, count yourself lucky! TLM loans are so hot right now.
In return for your loans, TLM are showcasing a unique-to-Kiva cashless cow-fattening loan where the borrower receives a skinny cow and one year later shares the profits from the sale of the (hopefully) fatter cow. Your repayment is genuinely dependent on how much a cow eats. Will you find a cash cow? Or will you be left crying over spilt milk?
We need your help to get fat!
Below is a video introduction to TLM featuring a trip into the beautiful Timor countryside and some heroic tree climbing.
Ways to support TLM:
Join the TLM lending team on Kiva
Follow TLM on Twitter! Kiva Coordinator Shanty, probably the only twitterer in West Timor, will be keeping TLMs twitter feed updated with all of their Kiva activities. Be the first to know when new TLM loans are posted!
Check out all TLM loans currently fundraising on Kiva here and make a loan!
Kiva Fellowships are unpaid voluntary positions and I totally forgot to do any fundraising for mine. If you would like to help me out in any way, you can donate to me here. I wish I’d thought of this earlier. Thank you. Kieran
Un Puñado de Dólares/Une Poignée de Dollars
Cette vidéo retrace le chemin d’un crédit de 25 dollars depuis Londres en Angleterre jusqu’au village de Preak Tomao au Cambodge. Kiva.org est un site web qui permet aux internautes de prêter de l’argent aux plus démunis dans les pays en voie de développement et grâce à ce prêt de se sortir eux même de la pauvreté.
Este video sigue el camino de un préstamo de $25, que va desde Londres hasta el pueblo de Preak Tamao en Camboya. Kiva.org es una página de Internet que permite a usuarios como tú y yo prestar dinero a gente necesitada en países en desarrollo, con el fin de ayudarlos a salir de la pobreza.
Kiva Fellows: News from Cambodia
Kiva Happy Hour in Phnom Penh
I once heard that Kentucky Fried Chicken conducted a market survey on their brand and found that the words “Kentucky”, “Fried”, and “Chicken” each had negative psychological associations. Hence the change to the more deliciously ambiguous “KFC”.
If this is true, then “Kiva Happy Hour” must surely invoke feelings of warmth and joyous goodwill in most people. Take one fuzzy “innovative-slash-fantastic” organisation, add cheap drinks and nice people, and, as we say in England, Bob’s your uncle… good times.
This is precisely what happened in the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh on Thursday in the third week of February. Thanks to everyone who came and to Sanjaya Bagopunyasena for doing most of the organising.
A Fine Fellow
Teresa Dunbar (KF5), right, sells Kiva like a pro. Kiva borrower photos show in back.
All profits from the sale of Kiva shirts are being lent on Kiva to borrowers in Cambodia
Hollie the designer with Katie Davis, KF7
Kiva Fellows new and old (I mean old as in KF6, not age ok?)
Sophany and Sophanith of AMK
Talking about microfinance and enjoying it
Limited Edition Kiva T-shirts
Step aside Gucci… microfinance t-shirts are SO this season. Hitting the runways (mainly of airports in West Timor and Phnom Penh) are the brand new limited edition Kiva “Loner/Loaner” t-shirts. Designed by Hollie Harrington of London, and produced in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, these shirts will add a dash of microcredit chic to any outfit.
Are you a loner or a loaner? Or perhaps even a lender?
If you would like one of these t-shirts there are a few left over in the AMK office in Phnom Penh. Otherwise contact me and I can send you the design files so you can get them printed locally. But only if all profits are re-invested on Kiva!
Kiva Fellows struck by lightning
Kiva Fellows Ball, Briggs, and Dunbar looked Danger squarely in the eye and said “Not today, we’ve got Kiva work to do!” when their plane was struck twice by lightning en route to their new assignments. Thanks to the Flip cameras distributed by Kiva and in true Kiva Fellows tradition this near-death moment was, of course, captured on video. OK so I added sound effects.
Flip video cameras: So simple, even a racoon can use it
Successful applicants for the Kiva Fellows programme generally need to be a bit tech savvy to handle the equipment they will use in the field. But the new Flip video cameras that were issued to KF7 are reputedly simple enough that even monkeys can use them.
Upon hearing this, I reacted as any sensible person would. “Sure, but how about racoons?”.
"How do you paws this thing?"
Note to Kiva: No Flip video cameras were harmed in the making of this video.
A Fistful of Dollars, Behind the Scenes: Volunteer Editor Helps Kiva Entrepreneur Reach Her Goal
Like the windshield on a motor-taxi in Phnom Penh rush hour, transparency is vital to Kiva’s survival. To give interest-free loans, lenders deserve to know that every cent of their money is being distributed exactly as promised, whilst borrowers have the right not to be misrepresented.
An important aspect of this transparency, and one which Kiva takes very seriously, is the integrity of the data on its website. Allowing inaccurate data is the first step towards encouraging fraud on the site, which would have severe reputational consequences for Kiva.
A key data check is performed between the time the loan is posted by the MFI, and when it goes live on the website ready for funding. At this point every loan is reviewed by one of a team of over three-hundred online volunteers. These language gurus work from all over the world to translate loans posted in foreign languages and edit those posted in English by Kiva’s field partner microfinance institutions.
This is a crucial link in the chain of events, not only because it ensures that Kiva lenders can understand business postings and thus make informed choices, that lenders are represented with dignity and clarity, but also because it is the one time that every single loan is scrutinized. Editors can, and often do, flag issues ranging from missing information in the loan description, double-postings, loan amount discrepancies, inconsistencies or problems with the borrower picture, to potentially controversial loans, such as a loan for a cockfighting business.
The Editing and Translation volunteers range from a high school microfinance club, to returned Peace Corps volunteers who want to continue contributing to the country where they were stationed, to young mothers home with their children who want to reach out to make a difference, to retired English teachers and technical writers. They are located on six continents around the world.
In my last blog I posted a video which followed a loan from London to Cambodia (A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story Of A Kiva Loan). The client that featured in the video was the smiley and exceptionally accommodating Van Makara, whose loan was posted by field partner AMK and selected by Danielle Lieu and my other ex-colleagues in London to be the recipient of their $25.
When the loan was posted to the Kiva website by Sophanith at AMK, it landed in the work-queue of Lorne Warwick, a retired high school english teacher. He immediately got to work checking the loan posting and editing the English to make it easily comprehensible (perhaps he should have edited this introduction too). His edits can be seen below.
Lorne Warwick has edited over six hundred loans in the past four months alone. And while no-one will ever really understand the complex algorithms running within Danielle Lieu’s brain that made her pick Mrs Van Makara for her first Kiva loan, it’s certain that Lorne’s edits did a fantastic job of making the loan posting infinitely more readable (ideal for people who are sifting through Kiva loans in the office when they should really be working).
Lorne Warwick: An Editor and a Gentleman
Lorne, a keen blogger himself, kindly agreed to write about his involvement in Kiva and what goes into the editing process. This is what he wrote:
Entry by Lorne Warwick, Kiva Volunteer Editor
As the editor of the loan to Mrs. Van Makara, the subject of the excellent video, “A Fistful of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan,” I have been asked to write briefly about my involvement with Kiva and what goes into the editing process.
A retired high school English teacher, my path to Kiva was largely serendipitous. In my first year of retirement, I purposely avoided making any commitments that would impose specific structure on my day, since structure was something that had defined my professional existence for 30 years. Content to take each day as it came, I busied myself with small home-improvement activities (never quite finding time for that major renovation needed in our basement!), an education research subcontract, and some sporadic writing.
My second year found me with a desire for a little more structure, so I began volunteering at a local food bank sorting and shelving donations. The very immediate results wrought by strictly physical effort were and still are quite gratifying. However, as time went on, I began to want to be of more service to others, never forgetting how fortunate I was to have been able to retire while still in my fifties, healthy and financially secure. The thought of paid work held no appeal. After becoming a lender with Kiva, one day I noticed a button on the site that said “Do More,” and to my delight found that the organization was seeking editors. The rest, as they say, is history, and I have now been editing loan descriptions for the past year, usually assigned two sets (with an average of 12-15 per set) each week by Kristy Harrison, one of Kiva’s volunteer coordinators living in England.
Perhaps the most powerful inducement for me in editing loan descriptions stems from my work as a teacher. I always had a special respect and admiration for those students who came to me, not to complain about their mark or try to wheedle a few extra points out of the old man, but rather were genuinely motivated to try to better their academic results. Essentially, they said, “I want to improve my work, and I want you to help me to reach that goal.”
Expressing such a desire meant I was at their service, and, in partnership, as long as they maintained that attitude and commitment, progress invariably ensued – progress not sudden and spectacular, but instead slow and steady. At the end of term, students would sometimes thank me for my help, but I would tell them that they had done all of the hard work – I had merely provided a framework and structure for their efforts.
This is precisely how I feel about Kiva, its mission, and my small role within the organization. The people seeking loans, already vetted and assessed by local Kiva financial partners, are the ones who bring the commitment, the motivation, and the goals to the deal – we are merely the conduit by which those goals can be achieved. Like the students I worked with for so many years, they have my deep respect and admiration, and I am happy to be of service to them.
Which brings me to the other aspect of Kiva that I find so immensely appealing: its model does much to renew the human spirit. I am convinced that the desire to help others exists in most of us, but this spirit of philanthropy needs regular cultivation. For example, many people have specific charities to which they regularly donate, and are quick to respond to pleas for money when natural and human disasters happen. However, these contributions are often made to large and seemingly faceless organizations tasked with dispersing the funds in a responsible and ethical manner. Our involvement in assisting the lives is thereby quite limited. The Kiva model, however, invites on-going participation in the lives of the borrowers, first as we select the region, the entrepreneurial activity and the borrower, and later as we can track the success of the loan through its repayment. The entire process is a steady reminder that we, as individuals, can indeed have a positive effect on the lives of our fellow human beings.
Kiva is an organization powered by a vision that is ideal for the times in which we live. While the events of the world and the actions of our leaders may frequently invite despair, Kiva is a vital reminder of the good that still exists, indeed thrives, in the heart of humanity. I feel privileged to be a small part of its efforts.
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Postscript
To view two more examples of loan edits, go to the following links
And to see a short video of live editing as it happens, check out the Cecilia Andoh loan live editing video
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If you or anyone you know would be interested in becoming part of the Volunteer Editing and Translation Team at Kiva, visit http://www.kiva.org/about/opportunities/ and follow the appropriate links.
A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story Of A Kiva.org Loan
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve explained the concept behind Kiva to family, friends, and people I’ve met along the way, but each time my explanation is slightly different.
This is because Kiva is really quite difficult to explain. It incorporates frightfully odd concepts such as microfinance, acronyms such as MFIs, faux acronyms (“what does K.I.V.A. stand for anyhow?”), frequently confused verbs “lend” and “borrow”, crossovers between banking and charity, international flows of money, interest and yet no interest, is it a tech start-up or is it a non-profit? It’s both Jim, but not as we know it.
I used to start with the basics: “Kiva is a website…”. But then I thought that makes it sound a bit, dare I say it, cheap, like hamsterdance.com is a website, so then I switched to “Kiva is a web-based non-profit organisation” which is the signal to most people to stop listening immediately and start planning an escape route to the bathroom.
I like to tailor the explanation depending on who the person is, how interested they seem, whether they know terminology such as microfinance or even the internet – in some Cambodian villages knowledge of the former outweighs knowledge of the latter whilst back home in England the opposite is true.
But when it comes down to it, does anyone really understand the Kiva process from start to finish? Well sure they do! But will we ever meet these mysterious people? Probably not.
So before I left my job at Credit Suisse in London, I decided it would be great to try and follow one loan through the system from start to finish, for the benefit of my colleagues who I coaxed into making a loan, and for myself, and for anyone else who is interested.
Three months later and my little project has reached fruition and dropped right off the tree in a sticky mess. An eleven minute video that I’ve effectively been married to for twelve weeks. It haunts my dreams. I’ve developed repetitive strain injury in my left arm from sitting at my laptop.
But I’m thoroughly glad I did it as I’ve discovered a new passion for making and editing videos to add to my long list of hobbies-to-take-up-and-then-drop-months-later. And I’m right-handed anyway.
I hope that you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.
Note: To watch the video in full screen (recommended) please click on the four arrows in the bottom right-hand corner of the video
To see all of the AMK loans currently fundraising on Kiva.org please click here
Additional note: To link directly to the video please use the following URL: http://www.vimeo.com/2769845
Reservoir Microloans
In my first week at Kiva’s rising-star field partner, AMK Cambodia, I was lucky enough to go on a two-day trip to the Kampong Cham province with the aim of meeting some Kiva clients and taking some photos for the AMK marketing department.
Over the 36 hours I took around 1500 photos – partly because Cambodians are super photogenic, and partly because 95% of my photos look as though Sambo the Phnom Penh elephant took them (he lacks opposable thumbs). With his eyes shut.
I made this short video of a loan being disbursed to the Sreymom Suong Group. They were pleased to become Kiva clients for the first time, even if it did mean having to pose for a photo or two. It’s not quite Tarantino, but it’s certainly in a similar ballpark.
Below are some of my favourite photos from the trip, if you like them you can go to this flickr slideshow to see the rest.
To see more AMK loans that are currently fundraising on Kiva, go here
Breaking the tri-Cycle of Poverty
Hello! My name is Kieran and I am a Kiva Fellow, sixth iteration. I am currently sitting on a turbulent flight back home to London after an intense week of training at Kiva’s San Francisco offices. I am sad to be leaving, slightly worried about the ancient aircraft I’m on (hoping that the technology is more up-to-date than the Nintendo Gameboy headphones the flight attendant is handing out), but excited about my impending assignment in Cambodia.
The past week has been an eye-opening, exhilarating, and potentially life-changing experience. The outstanding training we received was topped only by the friendliness and generosity of the Kiva staff we met. The enthusiasm and motivation of everyone at Kiva was a hurricane of fresh air. It felt like we’d just joined a little known pop band called The Beatles. You can tell from the buzz as soon as you walk into the office that Kiva is doing great things, and doing them well.
But wait… rewind… I wanted to share a little story about my first unwitting discovery of the concept of microfinance…
In 2006 I was fortunate enough to be travelling in China with my mum (that’s British for “mom” to any readers from the States). We had been there for a couple of weeks but were beginning to tire of the constant pollution in the cities, so we decided to head for the countryside on a public bus. Upon arriving in yet another small town, we realised the only way we were going to see the countryside was to flag down a rickshaw, essentially a three-wheeled pedal bike with a double seat at the back for passengers.
Our guide was in his twenties, eager to take us, and clearly not a smoker, as he proceeded to pedal the three of us up several long hills until we reached the outskirts of the town. He somehow managed to answer all of my mother’s questions about the surrounding sights whilst pedalling and maintaining a flow of oxygen to his lungs. At times, even his Olympic standard legs seemed to tire, and I willingly jumped out to give us a push. Intrigued as to how difficult it must be, I offered to take over pedalling, an offer which he politely refused. It was clearly a matter of pride, but I wasn’t backing down.
After my mum had explained in Mandarin that I simply wanted to have a go as I was considering a career change, he laughed and relinquished his saddle. “Hold onto your hats” I cheerfully joked. Little did I know that seconds later I would be eating my own proverbial hat. I climbed on and began trying to pedal on a relatively flat stretch of road. I say pedal, but that requires there to have actually been pedals, instead of the blocks of shiny wood that took their place. Time and time again my feet slipped off these zero-grip shin-bashers, causing great pain and the loss of much needed momentum. A brief attempt at a hill and it was game over.
It's steeper than it looks ok!
Curious to understand how, or indeed why, he had chosen to effectively take it upon himself to replace the internal combustion engine, my mother peppered him with questions. By the top of the hill we understood that he hired the rickshaw from a guy in the town for 200 Yuan ($25) per month, and that in the summer months this usually generated between 400 and 600 Yuan per month of revenue, but only 300 to 400 Yuan per month in the off-season. Most of his profits were sent home to support his family, leaving him just enough to live on. With a maximum profit margin of $50 per month, this didn’t amount to much.
By the bottom of the next hill we had discovered that to buy his own rickshaw would cost 1000 Yuan, around $150. My mum and I sat in silence, except for the sound of her translating to me, shocked at the idea that such a relatively small amount of money to us, would transform this young man’s life from one of eternally scraping-by to potentially doubling his monthly profits.
Unbeknown to us, thirty years earlier a forward-thinking economics professor had come to a similar conclusion. He went on to found the internationally respected Grameen bank and later earned the Nobel Peace Prize. We just sat like in silence and scratched our heads.
With a quick calculation one could estimate that with a loan of $150 over 12 months, even at 20% flat interest rate (worst case rate taken from Chinese microfinance organisation www.wokai.org), monthly repayments would be $15, which would still have increased his profits by $10 per month as he would not have to pay the monthly $25 hire cost.
This little revelation sparked my interest in microfinance and resulted in me being stuck in the Deep Vein Thrombosis-prone position I am at this moment. The idea behind microfinance is to allow people, like our rickshaw guide, access to traditional financial services so that they have the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty, or in this case, the tricycle of poverty (just in case you didn’t still hadn’t got the title of this blog).
The unique concept pioneered by Kiva enables people like me, my mum, or anyone with internet access, to lend to thousands of people like this, to know exactly who we are lending to, and for what purpose, and even better, to find out what happened as a result of our loan. Our driver probably wouldn’t have accepted our money if we’d offered to give him $150 – I could tell by his reluctance to let me have a go at pedalling that he was a proud man. But he may have accepted a loan. Unfortunately at the time we had no way of facilitating a loan agreement, and we regret that. But thanks to Kiva, we are now able to make such partnerships with similar entrepreneurs all over the world.
Thank you Kiva!
PS I’ll try and keep my next blog shorter!
