This spring I started lending on Kiva. As Christmas is approaching and some of you might be thinking about charitable contributions before the end of the year, I thought of writing a second post about my experiences with Kiva (triggered by the post that Joakim Jardenberg is once again offering gift certificates of $25 to people who want to try out Kiva (sv)).
Between March and December I've participated in funding 12 loans to groups of female entrepreneurs in Pakistan, Bolivia, Vietnam, Guatemala, and Paraguay. I've followed one of the key learnings of Grameen Bank and the strategy I outlined in my initial post.
So far, two of the loans have been fully paid back and no borrower has fallen behind on paying back nor defaulted.
During the year Kiva has started to deposit money paid back into lenders account as it receives the funds from its field partners, instead of paying everything back when the loan is repaid in full. Two thumbs up from me.
I'm very happy with Kiva and think it is a worthy cause and organization to support. (If you sign-up after reading this, feel free but by no means obliged to write henrik@torstensson.com in the field where Kiva asks if you were referred by a friend.)
1 comment:
I signed up too, seems like a great initiative to support. Lent $100 and donated $10 to Kiva. Seems to be a lack of projects seeking funds in Eastern Europe though.
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