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Stories tagged with entrepreneurship
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As the first microfinance institution in Central Asia to receive a full banking license in November 2012, Bai Tushum Bank has transformed itself from having 400 clients and a US$600,000 portfolio in the year 2000 to more than 28,000 clients and a US$102 million portfolio today.
I had the opportunity to chat with Gulnara Shamshieva, chief executive officer (CEO) of Bai Tushum Bank, on how the organization has kept social mission at the heart of its growth in the last 15 years and where it is heading in the next five years.
Gulnara Shamshieva has been the... Continue Reading >>
Resourcefulness is perhaps the most essential trait for any entrepreneur. In Nairobi’s Kibera district, the largest slum in Africa, that trait is apparent everywhere you look. In an environment where most residents earn no more than $2/day, resourcefulness is the means for survival, and entrepreneurship a vessel for hope.
Traveling around Nairobi, and Kibera in particular, evidence of this “scrappiness” permeates the sights. Security spikes made of broken shards of glass line the walls of housing compounds. Houses are quickly erected... Continue Reading >>
They are so right. I can attest, first hand, to this fact. When I browse through pages of scribbles and... Continue Reading >>
When I first applied to the program, I warned my family and friends that I would most likely be very “out of reach” for four months. Meaning that I would be working in a faraway place in a distant time zone- think Samoa, Togo, Bangladesh, or maybe even some country that I had barely heard of or knew very little about.
It was much to my surprise after finding out I was accepted to be a Kiva Fellow that I was to be placed in Los Angeles working with Kiva Zip. I’m slightly...
Moses Ojwang grew up in Kibera and experienced firsthand the need to develop leadership and catalyze change among the slum’s youth. In 2008, he made improving his community a full-time career by joining Carolina for Kibera (CFK), an NGO partnered with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Kiva Zip. CFK works to expand opportunity for all residents in Kibera, and more specifically, to help them become economically independent.
The organization offers three comprehensive categories of service to the...
Continue Reading >>How is Kiva Zip, a direct lending program based on the internet and mobile money transfers, working without the aid of micro-finance institutions on the ground? It begins with and is upheld by one important group of individuals: local community members we train to be trustees.
As we near our two year anniversary and celebrate our climbing repayment rate, now at 92%, we would like to honor our top-performing partners through a series of... Continue Reading >>Well, to be honest, someone made Kiva Zip a cake. Same same, right?
The last Thursday of June saw the official launch of Kiva Zip in Oregon! As... Continue Reading >>
The purpose of my adventure was to meet with multiple... Continue Reading >>
The view on sub-Saharan Africa is changing. No longer do stories of tribal wars, starving children and endemic diseases dominate the updates from the region. A new, more hopeful and optimistic picture is emerging; a reality of solid GDP-growth, more widely practiced reasonably free and fair elections, and a wealth of natural resources that range from oil and gas to diamonds and rare minerals.
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