Although the country is stable now, every year hundreds of thousands of Tajiks work abroad in Russia and other countries as opportunities in... Continue Reading >>
Stories tagged with Entrepreneurial Support
Although the country is stable now, every year hundreds of thousands of Tajiks work abroad in Russia and other countries as opportunities in... Continue Reading >>
A key component of Kiva's efforts to connect people throughout the world is to partner with trustworthy and high-impact organizations. While there are many notable microfinance institutions, not all meet Kiva's standards of being a Kiva Field Partner.
Not Just Microcredit Kiva Field Partners go beyond providing sustainable microcredit services. In order to highlight their outstanding efforts to serve their community's needs, Kiva created the Social Performance Badges. Using the Social Performance Task Force's ... Continue Reading >>
Here in Mongolia, my top priority with XacBank has been to complete borrower verifications (BVs)—visits to 10 randomly selected Kiva clients to ensure that everything in the field checks out with the information reported to Kiva’s San Francisco headquarters. As it happened, the borrowers in my sample were...
Continue Reading >>By: Abhishesh Adhikari
One of the best parts about my Kiva Fellowship has been the opportunity I get to meet and interact with entrepreneurs. During the 4 months that I spent in Kyrgyzstan, I helped Bai Tushum (Kiva’s partner MFI) launch a new Startup Loan Product and met a wide variety of entrepreneurs all across that country. After I got back from Kyrgyzstan in January, I have been working on a new Kiva project called Kiva Zip, trying to expand it here in Chicago.
Kiva Zip is a new initiative to make interest-free, small business loans to entrepreneurs in...
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Spring has arrived in Mongolia! That means warmer weather (afternoons creeping closer and closer to the double digits)… and, of course, baby animals!
I had the opportunity to travel to Selenge ...
Continue Reading >>In an earlier post I mentioned one of the ways that Fundación Paraguaya serves its constituents by broadening its scope beyond just making microloans. In that post I wrote about the Fundación’s self-sustaining agricultural and hospitality education program for high school students.
Another way that Fundación Paraguaya equips people to make better use of microfinance and emerge from poverty is through... Continue Reading >>
The Short Answer: (1) No, I haven’t uncovered anything scandalous and (2) they do more than make loans because, quite simply, it is helpful to the people whom they serve!
Important Context: I am a wet-behind-the-ears Microfinance Guy who undoubtedly still sees things as being much simpler than they really are. #Kiva
Now The Long Answer: As I climb the Development /... Continue Reading >>
Christina:
I dreamed vividly during the Monsoon season in India: I woke up covered in sweat from the burning heat and the wind howling outside my window. Only - I didn’t! … I was no where near India. I was in Washington DC, and as Hurricane Sandy battered the east coast over night , my landlady had turned the heat up to 90 degrees it seemed.
Ok, so being a Kiva fellow in the US is on the periphery no where near as exciting as being a fellow in say India. (Unexpected hurricanes not withstanding). Instead of dosa and idly I have my standard cereal in the morning, and...
Continue Reading >>Laura Sellmansberger | KF19 | Uganda
Roughly 1.6 billion people in the world do not have access to reliable electricity. Lack of power is a complex issue that results in countless other problems, and it is both a cause and an effect of unremitting poverty. Without light, children are unable to do their homework and study. Midwives must perform deliveries in the dark. Children, especially girls, often spend hours a day collecting firewood to be used for light and heat instead of going to school. Mothers are forced to cook with kerosene,...
Continue Reading >>Trekking to La Danta
Two weeks ago I headed out for the last of my borrower verifications with EDESA, the microfinance institution where I’ve been working. All week long I anticipated my trip to Golfito, which is way down in southern Costa Rica, in the Puntarenas province. I asked my colleagues about our portfolio there and peppered them with questions like: ‘Have you ever been to Golfito? How far is it from the Panamanian border? I heard it’s...
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