We’re proud to continue our microlending relationship with Kiva this year, helping to fight global poverty by assisting small business owners with their entrepreneurial initiatives. We have a goal of reaching 45 total loans by the end of the year.
Since the end of the year, three of our borrowers — Gia the beekeeper from Georgia, Mario the grocer in Nicaragua {who was our first Kiva loan of 2011!} and Marine, who sells super cute shoes in Armenia — have paid off their loans. Kiva lenders receive their money back as borrowers pay off their loans, and once you have that money back in your account with Kiva, you can take it out or re-lend it. We always re-lend, so our first two loans of 2012 (#33 and #34) have been made:
With our first loan of the year, we decided to pool our money with 140 other lenders to help a group of 20 women who are small business owners in Paraguay. They call themselves the Torype Oñondivepa Group. With group loans on Kiva, the group leader’s business is featured in the loan description, but all group members receive a portion of the loan to help their businesses. The leader of the Torype Oñondivepa Group is Maxima, who owns a grocery store, and it is the only source of income for her family. Having started out small, she has been able to grow her business gradually and she’ll be using her part of the loan to stock items for her store and continue the growth of her business.
We stuck with South America for our second loan, teaming up with 21 other lenders from around the world to help Julio in Peru. Julio is 45 years old and married with three children. He’s a taxi driver and his wife runs a bakery business out of their home. He’s asked for a loan to help expand the family bakery. Maybe it’s because we like making {and eating} baked goods, but anytime we see a bakery loan on Kiva, we are eager to lend!
Want to learn more about Kiva? Check them out at http://www.kiva.org and see our other Kiva blog posts.