I received an email today that the home based entrepreneur I helped fund in Cambodia has received her loan through Kiva. Kiva allows me to participate in microlending around the world in $25 increments using PayPal or a Credit Card. These entrepreneurs are helped by the intermediary agency that’s “on the ground” and administering the loan. They post blog entries about the progress of the loan’s repayment. Then when lenders (me! – or you!) get repaid (no interest though), the money is recycled to other entrepreneurs.
Best of all, you get to choose the projects you want to fund. By focusing on grassroots individuals instead of giving money through government entities, you accomplish two things…No money goes to fund a government bureaucracy. It goes directly to the individual in need and the money is repaid so it can be recycled multiple times.
I hope to use a significant portion of the revenues from this blog to establish a porfolio of these microloans through Kiva.
Here’s the type of information Kiva provides about the entrepreneurs you can sponsor.
Chou Va is a loving mother of three children who is excited about the opportunity to provide them with a better life. She currently runs a small business of selling Chinese noodles and coffee. She her current sales total about $2.25 per day with expenses of $1.50 per day, for a net income of about $0.75 per day. Chou Va is applying for a loan of $1,000 dollars in order to purchase a bigger shop to sell her noodles and coffee in. This will allow her to make her business more established, and thus provide the opportunity for increased business.
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