WRITTEN ON May 17th, 2009 BY kiwivera AND STORED IN life

Tags: finance, kiva, micro-lending

c. calls it the best business idea ever (and, don’t tell him i said this, but he’s right). by now, i’m sure most people have heard of it but that’s no reason not to mention it since i really believe kiva is one of the best things that have happened to the world lately.

the idea is almost too simple to be true but the fact is that it works. it makes every individual matter and gives everyone the opportunity to change lives. kiva is, basically, a micro-lending website through which people can load money to entrepreneurs in developing countries. their profiles are displayed on the kiva website, along with the loan details (how much, what for, etc) and you can choose to loan as little as $25. when the total amount is raised, the loan is disbursed to the entrepreneur and he/she starts paying it back. Kiva keeps users up to date with the loan status, through emails and whenever the entrepreneur puts a payment through, you receive a credit on your kiva account. you can then choose to either get the money or loan it to another entrepreneur. so you know all those times when you thought you’d love to help those who need but you can’t afford to spend money? well, that problem is gone. you’re not actually spending the money, you’re simply loaning it.

brilliant, right? c. and i joined kiva in january and we are still amazed at how fantastic it is. and the most amazing thing is the number of times that i find myself browsing the list of entrepreneurs currently raising money, click on someone’s profile only to find out that they’ve just finished raising the total amount. It really does renew my faith in mankind.

anyway, if you’re not a member of kiva yet, i really don’t know what you’re waiting for.