Kiva
A favorite of Red Room authors B. Kim Barnes, Natasha Bauman, Rohit Bhargava, Thaisa Frank, Gayle Keck, Carol R. Rosenfeld, Margriet Ruurs, Dave Lakhani, and Max Sindell.
Mission: Kivais the world's first person-to-person microlending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.
Co-Founder or CEO: Matt Flannery
Year founded: 2005
Accomplishments:
- More than $32 million in loans from almost three hundred thousand lenders
- More the 47,000 loans funded
- An average loan size of $494.73
- A website that averages among the top 25,000 visited
Profile:
This diagram shows how money gets from you to a developing-world entrepreneur, and back.
1. Lenders browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose to whom they wish to lend. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.
2. Kiva's microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur's chances of success.
3. Over time, the entrepreneur repays his or her loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.
4. When lenders get their money back, they can lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.
To become more involved, become a Kiva Field Partner,or become a lendertoday!
-Huntington W. Sharp, Editor, Homepage & Special Projects, Red Room
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