Posts tagged ‘Melitopol’
Frigid Finance: Small Business in Cold Climates, Part 1
Most of Kiva’s borrowers are located within the southern hemisphere, where problems like sleet storms and dzuds (check back Monday!) are nowhere in sight. But in Kiva’s EECA region (Eastern Europe and Central Asia), borrowers deal with a half year and maybe more of bitter cold and all the weather problems that come with it.
Would you buy oranges while standing in the snow?
Today I dragged my glamorous young interpreter, Alina, and loan officer Sergei to the frozen mud of the outdoor markets of Melitopol, Ukraine. I was on a specific mission: to find out how cold weather affects HOPE Ukraine’s borrowers. It snowed in Melitopol today, and I admit that I thought my toes were going to freeze off during one of today’s visits with a borrower. According to weather.com there was a high of 29˚F. (more…)
