Kiva: Direct Investment In The Future Of The Developing World Is Just A Few Clicks Away

by Nicole

The Daily Mantra has never met Juliet Egieda, a wife and mother of three, who lives in Illushi village in Edo State, Nigeria, but our worlds are now linked. Juliet has been in business for four years, selling food to her local community, and needs a modest loan to expand her business. The Daily Mantra has been able to invest in her business through an innovative micro-investment company called Kiva. The San Francisco based non-profit matches would-be investors, who make individual interest-free loans of $25 and up, with small business owners in the developing world. Kiva does not take any commission for loans given through their site. The money reaches the investor's chosen businesses via field partners such as the Lift Above Poverty organization. So far Kiva’s network of 93,000-plus investors has loaned over $10 million to 15,000 entrepreneurs from 36 different countries. The default rate on these loans is less than 1%.

With the money raised through Kiva, Julia hopes to buy more stock, ensuring continued prosperity for her business. The Daily Mantra’s fellow investors include Scott, a technical support developer from Appleton, WI. He chose to invest in Julia’s business because he says, “Prosperity is contagious.” Kay is another lender, living in Columbia, MD. She wanted to help people like Julia out because she “can think of few other things as meaningful as making these loans.” Meanwhile Marjan and Albrecht, two Silicon Valley engineers, chose to lend in this way because they “like to give back without going through a middleman.” Fargo is perhaps Julia’s youngest investor, stating his occupation as being a full-time kid who is usually busy “making a mess.” He chose to invest in Julia “because we all need some help sometimes.”

Julia is looking for investment totaling $625, and still needs $325 to complete her loan. We'll be checking back in with Julia from time to time to see how she's doing. If you would like to invest in the future of Julia or someone like her go to: www.kiva.org

| 08/29/07 | Enlightenment