The Kiva.org Founders
From what I've been able to gather, Jessica Flannery (a co-founder of Kiva) experienced the power of "micro-loans" to help impoverished people create their own business startups and in a way take their lives into their own hands when she was doing various philanthropic projects. Inspired, she parterned with her husband Matt Flannery (a computer programmer) to create a platform on the Internet for the masses to provide these micro-loans. I think that, given the nature of their business and their history, this couple is driven by the desire to help philanthropic organizations. They are driven to see people succeed who wouldn't ordinarily. The interesting thing about their model is that, I think, it already existed in various incarnations throughout the world. Microfinance isn't a new thing, so it's been proven to be effective at being mutually beneficial. What they did is take an existing platform and expose it to the mass market of the Internet. Therefore, I think their risk in this startup was lessened by the fact that they had had prior experience in already existing microfinance operations and could reference those business models as needed.
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Tags: Kiva
February 11th, 2008 at 12:30 am
As I still can’t seem to make a post on this blog, here is my wonderful Reply/Post Entitled: Kiva - Helping or Ignoring the Issue
As an entrepreneur, I think it is more than admirable that an organization has created a platform for people to “loan” money to individuals in third world countries. This formula (hopefully) begins to help individuals lead more productive and successful lives. But for all that a measly $25 dollars can do, don’t you think the business leaders of this world can do much better? Yes $1 goes a long way in third world countries, but when successful entrepreneurs are pulling in thousands a day, what does giving $25 at a time say?
Perhaps by giving an individual a little, he will learn to manage more. This makes a lot of sense. But there is still something missing in the whole Kiva process. A relationship.
We can all agree that people are the most important assets of this world. Both to business owners and from a Christian world view. Kiva allows us to sit in our comfortable chairs, in our cozy homes, at our computers and enter a few numbers on a keyboard. But where is the relationship in all this. It is much easier to trust someone you know, with our money. It is even more likely that we will get paid back in the case that a relationship has been built before a loan has entered the equation. Sure for a college student or low to middle family it would be difficult to meet an individual in a third world country in person, but I would argue that a trip to such a place is possible, especially with the backing of a church or other organization or even sponsorship.
I believe those who loan money through Kiva would find it much more rewarding to meet the person who he is loaning to. To see his place of business (and residence). To better understand exactly what is going on in other parts of the world. We are completely blinded, living in America, to what is going on elsewhere. We could help so many more through building relationships. In fact, relationships are even more valuable than any amount of money one could loan.
Is the idea to change the external conditions or to change lives?