Lend Through Kiva, Help Entrepreneurs Grow

There’s this show on BBC World that airs every Sunday evening, called Alvin’s Guide to Good Business that I enjoy watching whenever I can. The show follows business guru Alvin Hall as he travels the globe, meeting with social entrepreneurs in developing countries and offering his advice on how their ventures can be improved.

On today’s show, he met with the founders of Kiva, a San Francisco based non-profit organisation that facilitates on-line micro-finance lending to entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Here is a video of the show (if you are unable to view it, see it on Rockhopper.tv here) :

I was so impressed by the work this organisation is doing, that I immediately decided to become a Kiva lender myself. After all, how big a hole can US$ 25.00 (INR 1,286.00) really burn in my pocket? Barely enough for it to even be noticed!

Scrolling through the list of entrepreneurs that needed funding, I knew my first loan would be going to a Kenyan, considering that I am one myself (by citizenship, not ethnicity). So, I chose 58 year-old Jane Njambi Njoroge (the first ‘N’s are silent on both words) who sells animal feed to farmers; keeping both her age and area of business in mind. Agriculture (especially the organic type) is one of the industries that I am passionate about supporting and this was my chance.

The process of lending the money itself is really simple. All you have to do is register for an account on Kiva (with minimum form fields to fill out); choose the person you want to support (through detailed profiles with proper information about the candidates) and then pay the money through your Paypal account or a credit card. That’s it! Before long, you will find a confirmation from Paypal and one from Kiva, in your e-mail inbox waiting to be opened.

I hope some of you reading this will also be inspired by Kiva and follow my lead of becoming a lender. You could possibly turn around the life of an entrepreneur struggling somewhere out there (there are 45 countries to choose from, including the United States itself) with a loan of just 25 US Dollars! Think of all the good karma that will come your way.

My next loan is going to go to an Indian, since I’ve lived in India for almost 12 years now and it’s time to give back. Who will yours be going to?