Exciting news…we have passed the halfway point in our goal to help at least one small business owner in every country that has partnered with Kiva.
For those of you who do not know about Kiva, it’s a non-profit organization that provides a means for regular, everyday people such as your innkeepers, to help those less fortunate to lift themselves out of poverty by way of improving their local businesses with microloans.
Once the borrower has paid back the loan that you helped to finance, you can re-lend your money, to another borrower, which is exactly what we do. You can learn more about Kiva at www.kiva.org. Here’s a video that also explains Kiva’s mission:
Kiva is currently helping to facilitate microloans to small business owners in 82 countries. With our most recent loans, we checked off countries 41 and 42. For these loans, we headed east, to India and Timor-Leste. The loan in India is going to two female entrepreneurs who formed a group (Kiva loans can be for individuals or groups), and one of those women is a single mom who handcrafts cushions and soft toy items to support herself and her children.
In Timor-Leste, our borrower is a 24-year-old man who works as a teacher and supports his immediate family. His loan will help to pay for his sister’s education. We love education loans, especially those for girls in developing countries.
In October, Kiva celebrated its 10th anniversary and posted a neat graphic showing the impact that people have had in helping others and changing the world for the better. Check it out at http://blog.kiva.org/kivablog/2015/10/27/celebrating-10-years-of-impact.