Kiva is a non-profit organisation which facilitate micro loans to entrepreneurs all over the world. It inspires me each time I revisit the site and its reports. I was moved again today to support an internet cafe in Peru.. my US$25 contribution contributes the mere $625 Mr Yuri requires to get his business off the ground.
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive.
I get some insight into the difference that these loans make when I read through field reports. When I first heard of Kiva, I watched a video by John Larson, a CNBC reporter; today, I watched a followup report on CNBC in which John visits the borrowers he supported in their communities in Kenya.
To learn more about microfinance, I recommend reading the following page at Kiva.org: About Microfinance.
At the moment, I am supporting this worthy fellow in Peru, who is setting up an internet cafe (maybe one day I might be able to post from there!). Check Mr Yuri’s profile.