Kiva Blog

Thank you for all the concern expressed by lenders regarding the recent tsunami in Samoa (CNN report here.)

We have received the following communication from our Field Partner South Pacific Business Development (SPBD), based in Samoa. We are relieved to learn that no staff have suffered casualties, although many of their clients have been affected. At this point we are not sure the extent of damages suffered by SPBD clients, however SPBD is currently working to assess damages.

Coincidentally, Kiva had scheduled a Kiva Fellow to begin working with SPBD on September 30 as part of the Kiva Fellows Program. The Kiva Fellow, Agnes Chu, did arrive safely and is currently working with SPBD to survey the extent of damages suffered.

If you are a lender to an SPBD client, please be aware that it will take time for SPBD to gather information on their clients, and it will take further time for updates to be provided on individual Kiva loans, if this is at all possible. Please remember that at this time SPBD's top priority is to serve their clients where they can.

Following is the message we have received from SPBD:

September 30,

Friends,

As many of you will be aware, the Pacific Island nation of Samoa took a devastating hit yesterday. A massive earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale shook Samoa just prior to 7:00AM local time. A few hours later a large tsunami (giant tidal wave) wreaked havoc on the South coast of the island of Upolu. Entire villages were wiped away. There are many dead and thousands of homeless.

An effective humanitarian solution is needed quickly. People need temporary shelter, dry clean clothing and proper drinking water. Then the long process of rebuilding needs to begin as soon as possible. Homes need to be rebuilt and a local economy made up of thousands of micro-enterprises needs to be rebuilt.

South Pacific Business Development Foundation (SPBD) is in a unique position to help the families that have been devastated. Many of them are our clients. We are deeply rooted in all of the communities that have been shattered. SPBD has been working in Samoa since 2000. We have worked with nearly 12,000 poor families in nearly every village across Samoa and have provided them with small business training, unsecured credit for micro-enterprise development and ongoing guidance and motivation. We have helped the poor improve their homes and to ensure their children receive a proper education. And we have helped them to save for the proverbial rainy day - which is now so clearly here.

And now it is time for us to do much more. Won't you please support our efforts at this time of enormous need?

In the US and around the world, donations can be made to SPBD's global charitable development partner, The MicroDreams Foundation. You can donate to MicroDreams and 100% of your donation will be channeled to SPBD in Samoa by clicking here.

You can also donate online at www.microdreams.org

or at www.spbd.ws

or by sending a check made out to:

The MicroDreams Foundation
60 Park Place, Suite 2100, Newark, NJ, USA, 07102.

Any amount, no matter how small is helpful.

And please pass this note forward to any friends or colleagues that may also be interested in helping out.

All the very best,
Fa'afetai telelava,

Greg Casagrande

Thank you to all lenders who have expressed concern regarding our Filipino Field Partners that have been affected by the recent flooding in Manila.

Here is the latest update we have received from our Field Partner Center for Community Transformation Credit Cooperative (CCT):

"September 30, 2009

Dear Ministry Partners and Friends,

Let me give you an update of our relief operations for those affected by the typhoon Ondoy in the areas where we operate. As of September 30, a total of 4,803 CCT community partners and 26 CCT staff were affected by the flood.

CCT has been mobilizing donations in kind and in cash to respond to the need of community partners and staff who were affected. Relief goods (dry bags) were packed containing canned goods, bottled water, rice, coffee, noodles, basic medicines and few clothes. Ready-to-eat food bags were also distributed to families who lost even their cooking utensils. In addition, blankets and mattresses (foams) were also distributed.

Details of the relief goods mobilized are as follows:

Rizal Area: This would comprised the municipalities of Cainta, Taytay, Angono, Binangonan, Antipolo, Montalban, and San Mateo. Marikina and Pasig City are also added in this cluster. In these areas, 1,882 community partners in 158 fellowships groups have been affected. To date, all of them were given relief bags . One thousand (1000) blankets were also distributed in this area.

National Capital Region: Areas affected are Munoz, Novaliches, Batasan, Bagong Silangan and Commonwealth, Malibay, Taguig, and Muntinlupa. The number of community partners affected are 1,608 from 720 fellowship groups. To date, 899 relief bags were distributed to the victims in these areas. Five hundred blankets and 500 mattresses (foams) were also distributed today in these areas.

CAMMANAVA: This cluster is composed of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela areas. There were 14 fellowships affected totaling 570 community partners . 370 dry bags were already distributed to those affected with the 200 bags scheduled for distribution within the day. Eight mattresses and blankets were also released in this area.

Cavite: There were 23 partners affected from Bacoor, Silang, Gen. Trias and Tanza areas. Relief response was taken cared of by the branches in these areas.

Laguna Area: A total of 627 partners from 150 fellowships were identified as affected. Four hundred thirty (430) dry bags, 300 blankets, 100 mattresses and 10 sets of life jackets were distributed to date.

Medical missions are being planned and scheduled starting tomorrow. The severity and damage brought about by the typhoon will take sometime for the victims to recover. Thus, relief operations will continue within the week. For details regarding relief operations, kindly contact the following persons:

• Froilan Parado – mobile: 0923-7080147, landline(632)-523-0093
• Evelyn Pantoja – mobile: 0922-8541583, landline(632)-524-1835 loc. 30

For US partners and donors, kindly course donations to endpoverty.org, with details as follows:

Mr. Kenneth Wesche and Ms. Valeska Daley
240-396-1146; 800-936-2253 (toll free)
7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 800, Bethesda, MD 20814

Again, thank you so much for your prayers and immediate assistance.

May God bless us all!

In Christ,
Ruth S. Callanta
President"

As many of you may be aware, the Philippines experienced severe flooding a few days ago as a result of Typhoon Ondoy. CNN has reported the story here.

Kiva has 8 active Field Partners in the Philippines, two of which have headquarters in Manila, which was severely affected by the flooding. These two Field Partners are Center for Community Transformation Credit Cooperative (CCT) and Ahon sa Hirap, Inc. (ASHI). Obviously we are greatly concerned for the wellbeing of the staff of our Field Partner, the entrepreneurs they have been serving and the millions of Filipinos in the area.

So far, we have received the following communication from CCT:

"September 28, 2009

Dear Ministry Partners & Supporters,

It is a critical time for many Filipinos who have been affected by the strong rains and flooding brought about by the storm Ondoy. According to our local government weather station, the total amount of rainfall which poured in about 12 hours during the peak of the typhoon was equivalent to a month’s amount of rainfall. Cities and municipalities were submerged in floodwaters. This resulted to the declaration of a state of calamity in twenty-five provinces including the National Capital Region, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Pampanga, and Pangasinan –areas where many of our staff and our community partners reside.

Many of our staff and community partners have been affected. We are currently determining the extent of the damage. As of today, 18 of our staff and their families have houses that were flooded and their belongings damaged; several of them are now in evacuation centers. While 1,703 of our community partners/beneficiaries were severely affected, with houses and livelihoods damaged by the flooding.

As of September 27 (Sunday), we have provided food and clothing to 780 families of CCT’s community partners. We have also provided food and shelter to 250 street dwellers. CCT’s branch offices, especially in Rizal and Laguna are now being used as temporary shelters for some of the community partners.

Our relief operations is ongoing. We would appreciate immediate assistance. We currently need donations for food like rice, canned goods, noodles, coffee, water, candles and match. We also need blankets, clothing, and medicines. Our community partners also need assistance in rebuilding their destroyed houses.

Thank you so much for your concern and assistance!

May the Lord Jesus continue to bless you abundantly!

In His Service,

Ruth

Ruth S. Callanta
President"

We will be sure to keep you updated as we hear more from our Field Partners.

Last week, at long last, Kiva launched in Armenia with our first new partner in the country: Nor Horizon Universal Credit Organization. The first loan for Gohar Alikhanyan, a 49-year old widow who runs a fruit stand in the capital city, was funded within hours. More loans from Nor Horizon will be up on the site very soon, keep checking back on the site!

To tell you a little bit about Nor Horizon, the organization was originally founded by OXFAM Great Britain. The organization's mission is to provide high-quality business development services to enterprising individuals and small-scale businesses in underserved rural and urban areas. Nor Horizon works to increase the ability of poor people to engage in productive activities and generate secure livelihoods, ensure community development, and facilitate refugee integration with the local population. Nor Horizon is a small organization with close, personal relationships with its 2,000+ clients. For more information about Nor Horizon, visit the partner page here.

Please welcome Nor Horizon to Kiva and keep an eye out for more loans from this great new partner! And, thank you for supporting entrepreneurs in Armenia and around the world!

One month ago, the Kenya Agency for Development of Enterprise and Technology (KADET) became the first Kiva partner in Kenya to join in over a year. Rocked by the post-election violence of early 2008, KADET and many other microfinance institutions were severely impacted by clashes that disrupted everyday life for an entire nation. In spite of this, KADET continued to serve clients in 53 branches across a nation the size of Texas ensuring that the rural poor maintained access to financial services.

Kenya's microfinance sector has continued to feel the effects of the post election violence but two stars managing to succeed in spite of external challenges are Faulu Kenya and the Small and Micro Enterprise Program (SMEP). Both organizations bring a unique approach to microfinance and are aggressively growing and innovating to better serve their growing client bases.

Small and Micro Enterprise Programme (SMEP) is a credit-only Microfinance Institution born out of an initiative of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK). SMEP seeks to alleviate poverty by empowering those who are economically marginalized through the provision of both financial and non-financial services. The institution began as a feeding program for the poor in Mathare, a slum near Nairobi, in 1975 but, in 1978, NCCK realized that the poor needed to be self-reliant and economically empowered and the feeding program was transformed in to a microcredit scheme known as Small Scale Business Enterprise (SSBE). Since the beginning of its provision of microfinance services, SMEP has sought to focus on Kenya's deep and rural poor.

SMEP is a leader in agricultural lending, offers products as diverse as solar panel leasing and micro-health insurance, and has recently teamed up with Safaricom’s MPESA to allow easier repayment by clients via mobile phone. The institution is currently working to become a deposit-taking institution in order to offer clients a safe place to put their savings.

Our other new partner, Faulu Kenya, offers savings and credit services to close to 100,000 clients with 25 branches nationwide. Over the years, Faulu has been able to help over 500,000 Kenyans with financial solutions transforming some from poverty into formidable business people. Faulu Kenya is one of the largest microfinance institutions in Kenya and will be using funding from Kiva lenders to ensure further access to financial services.

Please welcome SMEP and Faulu Kenya to Kiva and thank you for supporting entrepreneurs in Kenya and around the world!

Dear Lenders --

With the signing of Kiva's 8th partner in the Philippines, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for making our expansion into the country possible. In the past 9 months since the first Filipino loan was posted to Kiva, you all have lent over $1 million USD to support Filipino microentrepreneurs. It is because of your support that Kiva has been able to expand so quickly in the country to support the working poor. On behalf of our Filipino partners & Team Asia, please accept our sincerest thanks for all your support!

At the same time, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the main drivers for this incredible growth in the Philippines from the Kiva side: Rico Munoz (official title: PDS Extraordinaire) and the team of past & current Fellows who worked/are working incredibly hard with the Filipino MFIs to get set-up on Kiva. Given that almost a year ago, Kiva did not have any partners in the Philippines and was only beginning its entry into the Philippines, it is a testament to these individuals that we now have 8 strong Filipino partners (5 whom are Active partners!) who collectively have raised over $1MM on Kiva in this short period of time.

Specifically, Rico has been absolutely amazing in identifying, researching & training all of the Filipino partners. He not only has built a strong rapport with the organizations we currently are working with, but he also ensured that they responded to all of our requests in a timely fashion which was instrumental in expanding in the country so quickly. And as the Filipino loan & journal postings have demonstrated, Rico has done an exceptional job in helping the MFIs understand how to operationalize Kiva and making sure they have the necessary tools & training to be excellent Kiva partners.

And what more can I say about the team of Fellows I have worked with in the Philippines? Not only do they have to put up working with me, but they have the hard part of actually making sure everything Rico & I train the MFIs on actually sticks. From traveling to remote branch offices to train credit officers on Kiva to posting business profiles/journal updates to helping an MFI develop a Kiva Implementation Manual to completing Borrower Verifications, my Fellows have done it all and done it exceptionally well. Without them, it is unlikely that many of our partners would have been able to post so many loans in such a short amount a time nor would the 5 Active partners have become Active partners so quickly. More importantly, all of the MFIs who have received a Fellow absolutely LOVE them & have repeatedly thanked me for sending them such great individuals.

And since I am the author of this email, I’d like to single out the Filipino members of Team Awesome:

1. ASHI – John Briggs (KF7), Sloane Berrent (KF8)
2. ASKI - Teresa Dunbar (KF7), Drew Loizeaux (KF8)
3. CCT – Merrick Brown (KF8)
4. CEVI – Rob Cavese (KF7), Milena Arciszewski (KF8)
5. PMPC – Evie Marzec (KF7)

Also, huge thanks to the hard-working Fellows Team of JD, Zack & their army of volunteers for finding & training such a great group of Fellows for the Philippines!

Anyways, since this post is getting ridiculously long, I think I’ll end it here. I know that I’ve left out others who have been instrumental in helping Team Asia get the Philippines off the ground (Editing/Translations dealing with suddenly urgent requests to edit Filipino loans, the Investment Committee, etc.) but please know that we greatly appreciate all the help you have provided to us.

So here’s to everyone that have made the Philippines a roaring success and hopefully we will duplicate this type of growth in Indonesia and beyond!

Sincerely,

Darren Miao
Microfinance Partnership Manager - Asia Pacific

Dear Lenders --

I am happy to announce that Kiva has signed on our 6th, 7th & 8th partner in the Philippines:

1. Gata Daku Multi-Purpose Cooperative. GDMPC is a 3-star MFI on the Kiva and is a strong, socially focused organization that works in the poorest & most challenging region in Philippines – Mindanao. For more information about GDMPC, please visit their website at: http://www.gatadakumpc.org/

2. Center for Community Transformation Community Cooperative (CCT). CCT is a 4-star MFI on the Kiva risk rating system and a strong, socially focused organization that works across the country in the Philippines. For more information about CCT, please visit their website: http://www.cct.org.ph/.

3. Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF). NWTF is a 4-star MFI on the Kiva risk rating system and a strong, socially focused organization that is based in Bacolod City with branches in almost all provinces of the Visayas Islands including Samar and Leyte. For more information about NWTF, please visit their website: http://www.nwtf.ph.

Sincerely,

Darren Miao
Microfinance Partnership Manager - Asia Pacific Region

"Business success is often a mystery. Very often, luck is a big part of it. Often it's skill. Sometimes it's just plain sweat and perseverance. Micro-entrepreneurs are no different, and while we can sometimes guess at why one entrepreneur can be so successful as to expand their business and hire employees whereas others do not, often, it's simply a mystery.

When I first met Adora Fajiculay I'd I'd invited myself into her workspace after seeing the most fantastic gown on display there. I learned she made the dress from pandan palm, for a beauty contestant to wear at the annual Banigan Festival. The gown was not only beautiful to look at, but structurally flawless. If there were a "Project Runway: Philippines", Adora would win, hands down.

I went wild with praise as she stood by not quite sure what to make of all of it. At first meeting, Adora can be perceived as shy. She is petite and soft-spoken, and always gracious and welcoming.

Adora was the first Filipina borrower that you had the chance to meet on Kiva. She was the first borrower posted by any Philippine MFI to Kiva, winning her the distinction of being the first Philippine entrepreneur on the site.

Adora's business success is clear. Her two-room workshop hums, and is so busy that she has had to hire help; she now employs two women, and is planning to hire a third worker to staff a new uniform showroom she intends to open across from a local university. But she didn't arrive here from a path destined to succeed.

Adora comes from a large family, and due to challenges at home, was raised by her aunt. She got her first taste of intensive sewing in a home economics course when she was a third-year high school student. After finishing high school in 1997, Adora began looking for a way to earn money to help pay for medical bills for her father, who was suffering from a terminal illness. She left her home in Antique Province, where fishing and farming are the economic mainstays and wages are low, to work at a garment factory in Bulacan, northwest of Manila. Adora worked there for three years, sending home most of her earnings.

When her father's condition failed to improve, Adora decided to return home. She was determined to go to university or college. Adora examined the opportunities available to her, and chose to apply for a Philippine government scholarship program run by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. She was accepted, and was eligible to have half of her tuition paid at an accredited school for either a course in a computer-related field, or hotel and restaurant management.

But Adora began to have second thoughts. She wasn't enthusiastic about a career in computers, or the hospitality industry. To her, neither would provide her with much opportunity to determine her own fate. Moreover, the accredited school she would have to attend charged much higher tuition than other schools in Antique Province. So she did what few Filipinos in her shoes would have done: she turned down the scholarship.

Instead, she chose to build on the skills she'd learned at the garment factory and enrolled as a garments technology major at another school. Once in school, she excelled. One day, she was reading through the student handbook and noticed that full academic scholarships were available for good students. Again she applied for a scholarship, and again her diligence paid off. The school paid half of her tuition fees the second semester of her first year, and all of her tuition fees every year thereafter.

To cover her living expenses, and to help her family out, she took on work outside of school at a local clothes design shop. The move was economic and academic -- assignments she got at work doubled as projects she could submit as schoolwork -- but despite that, it was very hard work. She often worked seven days a week, and long into the night, and from the time she entered school, she became her family's primary breadwinner. Adora's long-suffering father died in 2001, when she was a second-year student.

After graduating from school in 2003, Adora started her tailoring and seamstress business as a one-woman operation, armed with a single foot-powered sewing machine. Adora knew that in order to grow her business, she'd need money to be able to buy better equipment, but she couldn't qualify for a loan from a commercial bank. Soon thereafter, Adora discovered Kiva partner Ahon Sa Hirap, Inc. (ASHI), which started lending in Antique Province in 1998 after identifying the area as one of the poorest and most in need of its services.

ASHI not only provided Adora the money to buy vital equipment such as high-speed sewing, edging, and embroidery machines, but it helped build her confidence as a businesswoman. For ASHI, lending money is only part of the equation: it also has a keen focus on social development, and strives to build leadership skills among its all-female membership that take out loans as part of groups bound by social collateral.


Through successive loan cycles from ASHI, Adora secured the capital necessary to grow her business. As she expanded her capacity, and built upon her reputation, and her business has now grown so much that she had to hire full-time help. She dreams that three years from now, she will own a well-equipped dress shop to be able to cope with orders for school uniforms in state colleges around the bustling capital town of San Jose de Buenavista, Antique.

Adora is now 28, and married to Juvey, a booking agent for a bus company whose job keeps him away from home for all but two days a month. They have a nine-month old girl, Crysantha Nicole. She is still her family's primary breadwinner; her mother now lives with her and helps with raising pigs and other ventures.

I've met scores of borrowers in my time as a Kiva Fellow -- first in Cambodia, then the Philippines, and now Kenya -- but of all the borrowers I've encountered, Adora stands apart. Most of the borrowers I've met have been able to use loans with modest but very real success: credit helps them to temper the worst shocks of poverty, and puts their families on sounder footing. But few have been able to build businesses that employ others as successfully as Adora's.

I was left wondering what made her different -- why did she succeed where other borrowers hadn't? Had being raised by her aunt left her with the realization that if her immediate family couldn't care for her, then she'd have to do it herself. Had her father's death forced her to accept more responsibility for her loved ones than if he'd survived? She had taken a significant risk turning down the government scholarship she'd received, but it was clearly the right decision. How did she know that she would be more successful tailoring than working in hospitality or computers?

The best answer I can come up with, is that Adora was just incredibly determined to succeed. While I wonder at the mystery of her success, it's possible the better question is "could anything have stopped her?"

John Briggs is a Kiva Fellow currently working with the Kenya Agency for the Development of Enterprise and Technology (KADET) based in Nairobi. John is one of our longer-term Kiva Fellows; before going to Kenya, he served with Ahon sa Hirap, Inc. (ASHI) in the Philippines from March to May 2009, and Maxima Mikroheranvatho in Cambodia from October 2008 to February 2009.

- John Briggs is a Kiva Fellow working with the Kenya Agency for the Development of Enterprise and Technology (KADET) based in Nairobi. John is one of our longer-term Kiva Fellows; before going to Kenya, he worked with Ahon sa Hirap, Inc. (ASHI) in the Philippines from March to May 2009, and Maxima in Cambodia from October 2008 to February 2009.

“I want the Kiva lenders to know that I only borrow what I need, not what I can.”

These words really took me by surprise, when I visited Kiva Enterpreneur Borya Enhbat a few weeks ago. Of all the messages he could have asked me to pass on to Kiva Lenders, this was most important to him.

At first I wondered if this comment came from his feeling apologetic to Kiva Lenders for needing to borrow their money, and wanting to make sure that they knew it was an act of necessity, not luxury.

But as I got to know him better, I realized that this wasn’t about his feelings towards the Kiva Lenders. This message was coming from the pride that Borya has, and has feelings about the way he lives his life. This is a man with dignity, who taught me about “wants” and “needs”, and what it means to live a proud life.

Borya, his wife and his four children, live in a tent. Where I’m from, we use tents on vacation as a temporary shelter. But in Mongolia, many people live in a “ger”, which is the traditional home structure here. Borya’s wife is his business partner, and he is very proud of his son, a miner - mining is one of the biggest industries in Mongolia. His son is married and lives in a ger nearby.

Borya first became a cobbler while working under the former communist system of Mongolia. However, after the fall of the communist system in 1990, which led to massive food shortages, the collapse of most enterprises and high inflation, Borya decided to try to make it on his own under the new democratic system. It’s amazing to me that the dream of making it on our own – the so-called “American” dream – is actually a global dream, shared by billions of people around the world.

At first, Borya was always asking his friends and family to borrow money for his business, a common situation the unbanked population of the world. However, in 2001 XacBank (pronounced “Haass Bank”), the result of merging two non-bank financial institutions combined, launched with the motto “Mongolians can repay.”



Borya has certainly proven that motto. He has become a regular XacBank client (probably to the relief of his friends!) and he can go straight to the bank to take out micro-loans. One of his previous loans was to buy furniture for his son to live independently in a ger with his wife. With his loan funded by Kiva Lenders, Borya is buying supplies for his cobbler business.

And he has reason to need supplies! This weekend is Naadam in Mongolia, a traditional festival locally called “the three games of men”: wrestling, horse racing and archery. The men of Mongolia are a very tough people, and tough people need tough boots. That’s exactly what Borya plans to sell them this weekend.

Borya has already done his research for this weekend’s business opportunities. He has scouted out his competitors and thinks he can sell his boots at 15,000 tugrogs, undercutting his competitors at 20,000 turgogs (1 USD = 1400 turgogs). This will still allow him a significant profit margin and should increase his sales. Borya seems to know his business well; he has already repaid his loan two months ahead of time, and, as a result, he will receive some of his interest payments back from XacBank.

Eight years after opening, XacBank is a completely self-sufficient microfinance institution. 11 years after starting his small business, with the help of XacBank’s loans, Borya is now looking into a new market – making shoes as well as fixing them. He’s looking to open a second shop, and plans to use his next loan to buy a high quality sewing machine, as his current sewing machine is not good enough to make a large quantity of boots.



There is a Mongolian proverb that Borya likes, which says “if one works hard, good destiny follows.” Knowing Borya’s work ethic, and his attitude toward debt, I now much better understand his message to Kiva lenders:

“I want the Kiva lenders to know that I only borrow what I need, not what I can.”

Borya's message was not about the loans he's taken out. His message was about himself, the type of man he is and the kind of life he lives - one of pride and dignity.


(Note: For some more Mongolian pleasure, listen to Kiva Entrepreneur Enhtuya Erdene-ochir playing the yatga, a traditional Mongolian instrument, and singing the song "Full Moon", which she suggested she sing for Kiva Lenders. Enhtuya will also be busy this weekend - in addition to the house shoes she used her Kiva loan to make, she also makes traditional Mongolian hats and costumes which are worn during Naddam.)"


- Tamara Sanderson (seen here, second from the right, at the XacBank retreat in Mongolia) is a Kiva Fellow currently working with XacBank in Mongolia. Click here to read Tamara's blogs about working with XacBank.

On Saturday, June 27^th, Atlanta Kiva Lenders lending team proudly gathered for a picnic in a local park. In celebration of being one of the largest domestic “local area” lending teams on Kiva, dedicated Kiva lovers came together to socialize and set outreach goals for the future. The group had a raffle presenting the winner with a Kiva gift certificate and a special guest also joined them! Team captain, Liliane, wrote to us and explained:

"It was a beautiful, hot Atlanta day in the park and we had all come together to talk about Kiva! Many of our regular attendees, as well as some new lending team members joined us. It was exciting to meet a wide variety of Kiva lenders, with different backgrounds and varied skills sets. We discussed awareness events we might like to host in the late summer and early fall, when a number of festivals take place in Atlanta, as well as promotional products we might like to create, such as Kiva banners or T-shirts. And not surprisingly, all members enthusiastically vowed to double their recruitment efforts!

We were thrilled when a staff member from the Accion-USA Atlanta branch arrived! Jesse gave us a lot of insight into how things work at Accion-USA at both the client level and as an organization."

To check out the Atlanta team, see their Lending Team page or the Atlanta Team Facebook page.

This is yet another great example of a group of Kiva lenders who really care and who have figured out a way to use Kiva and its community to connect with people they otherwise might never have had the opportunity to meet!

If you would like to host an event with your lending team, or for people in your area that might not yet know about Kiva, let us know! We are looking for some spectacular volunteers who wish to help us raise awareness about Kiva in their communities around the globe! For more information or questions, contact us at kivacommunity@gmail.com and check the calendar for events near you!

Please join us in welcoming Kiva´s newest partner in Bolivia, CIDRE, to the Kiva family!

CIDRE is a nonprofit organization located in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Their mission is ¨to contribute to the sustainable development of small-level dairy/livestock producers and of rural and semi-urban micro and small businesses, through the provision of quality financial services.¨

With over 20 years experience serving rural entrepreneurs, and we are delighted to give Kiva lenders the opportunity to support CIDRE´s important work in some of the poorest and most isolated areas of Bolivia.

More more information, check out this great blog written by Kiva Fellow Nick Cain, who worked with the Latin America team to get CIDRE trained on how to use the Kiva website. Happy Lending!!!

We are delighted to once again offer Kiva lenders the opportunity to support borrowers in Ecuador! After over a year of inactivity, Kiva has recently teamed up with the Fundación ESPOIR to support the great work they do in helping bring financial and non-financial services to hard-to-reach areas in Ecuador.

ESPOIR lends to 100% women through 5 branches throughout the country. They are pioneers of the "Credit with Education" methodology wherein borrower recieve not only loans, but also business and life skills training. In addition, one of their branches has a medical clinic that is available to all borrowers and their families. For more information on the clinic, check out Kiva Fellow Cynthia McMurry's recent blog post.

Thursday, Kiva quietly launched in Liberia, and Kiva Lenders noticed - within an hour all loans were fully funded, despite the dozens of other loans on the website!

Kiva’s first partner in Liberia is called Liberian Enterprise Assistance Program, or LEAP. The logo demonstrates that this acronym is not a lucky mistake, but an intentional choice to demonstrate that with a micro-loan from LEAP – you can leap into a better life!

Liberia is freshly recovering from two major wars that finally came to an end in 2003. The wars created serious problems with the infrastructure all over the country, which in turn created huge obstacles for anyone working to help the country get back on her feet.

Many people at LEAP say that the inflow of grants after the war made work difficult for microfinance institutions. They say that - these days, many people in Liberia are not used to being supported in a way that holds them accountable for their actions. As many clients convert from taking grants to taking loans, LEAP’s staff makes a strong effort to sensitize people to the importance of making good repayments; they have to remind them - this is not a grant. LEAP’s staff reminds clients that they should pay back their loans on time, because when the aid that is in Liberia now moves on to other places, microfinance institutions will remain as a way for people to build better lives for themselves.

LEAP staff members also explain that they have been pleasantly surprised at the dedications that their clients have in paying back their loans. On Friday, I visited a refugee camp that has two medium sized markets in it. The branch manager that I was with explained that he was very nervous about working in a refugee camp as this was the exact population that has been provided with so many grants over the years.


As we made our way around the market, he introduced me to the sellers, and most of them were LEAP’s clients! A few proudly told me that they were on their second cycle with LEAP, and they had paid well the first time.

LEAP will be posting primarily group loans on Kiva – and most of these groups have just five members. Browse LEAP’s loans and get a feel for the entrepreneurs in Liberia!

Luis is not your average bakery delivery guy, bringing cakes, pastries and breads to your local restaurants, delis and hotels. On first glance he’s just another guy zipping around Manhattan in a van, with places to go and deliveries to make. But if you have the chance to get to know him, Luis is one of the most inspiring people you will ever meet.

Luis was homeless just ten years ago. He was that guy holding a sign saying “Need Work”. Without a place to stay or a way to earn a living, he was invisible, as many of the homeless are to the rest of society. That was, at least, until the owner of a bakery decided to give Luis a chance, and offered him work doing deliveries.

Luis didn’t let this chance go to waste, and he built a reputation for being a hard worker. Delivering baked goods in New York is hard work. You begin at 2 a.m., when many in Manhattan are still partying the night away, and you work into the afternoon. He kept at his work, building relationships with colleagues and customers, and keeping his boss happy, until the attacks of September 11 changed everything.

On September 11, 2001, at 8:30am, Luis made his regular delivery to a restaurant in the World Trade Center called Windows on the World; most of the customers that he delivered to were in and around the World Trade Center. Just minutes later, the attacks on the World Trade Center took place while Luis was making a delivery in another building. Luis miraculously survived the events, and to this day he carries in his wallet the pass he used to access the World Trade Center for the last time.

The van Luis drove was parked many floors below the World Trade Center and did not survive the attacks. Neither did most of the businesses that received deliveries from the company Luis delivered for and so the delivery service was unable to recoup the losses and was forced to fold. Luis, however, had too much to work for – three sons – and so he decided to start a delivery business of his own.

Luis didn’t have enough cash to buy a van himself – he needed a loan. And he couldn’t find any banks that would lend him money to buy a van for a new delivery business. He did, however, find a microfinance institution based in Manhattan, ACCION USA, who would lend him the money for the van, recognizing that he was hard-working and had the experience to be successful in his own delivery company. Luis bought a van, and starting with only two of the old company’s customers, he established a new client base.

Since Luis launched his own delivery company, business has been slow at first, but is increasing, and he now owns a second van so that he can hire additional help when he needs it. He still works hard, picking up bread for his first delivery route at 2 a.m., and visiting two more bakeries at 6 a.m. and again at 11 a.m. for more deliveries. He makes dozens of stops every day to restaurants and hotels throughout New York City.

Most recently, Luis applied for a second loan through ACCION USA. He needs to refrigerate his van so that when he makes deliveries in the hot New York summer, the cakes don’t spoil. Refrigerating an entire delivery van is not cheap, and he needed $5,625 to buy a cooling system for the vehicle. ACCION USA, as one of Kiva’s pilot partnerships in the US, posted Luis’ loan request on Kiva.org and it has already been funded by 160 Kiva Lenders.

Luis admits that he works hard, but he has a strong motivation to do so – three sons, two of whom are serving as Marines, one of whom just recently returned safe from Iraq. Luis’ youngest son Luigi, is thirteen years old, and the namesake for Luis’ company. Luis jokes that his thirteen year old son is the actual owner of the business, but he is very sincere when he says that his son is the reason he works so hard.

Luis, like fathers around the world, is striving to build a better life for his children. He is proud of the life he is leading, the legacy that he is creating and the prosperity he is providing for his family. Every morning when Luis climbs into the van he owns, he sees his son's name proudly displayed on the door and works hard to build that legacy.

Watch the video below to see Luis telling his story to Kiva.org President Premal Shah, ACCION USA President & CEO Gina Harman and ACCION USA CFO Paul Quintero.

The bLENDer was the first event of its kind and one celebrating and raising awareness about microfinance in the United States. Co-hosted by ACCION USA, the largest microlender in the United States, it had all of the elements of Kiva- under one roof.


It was amazing to see the line-up at the door as the house filed with guests from all corners of Kiva: Kiva Lenders, Kiva Borrowers, Kiva Fellows, microfinance staff, donors, board members, executives and friends who came out to support a worthy cause.


Kiva Fellow Alumni (Adam Grenier, Whittney Zimmerman, Nick Roose) hosted the "Lending Lounge"- a room where event guests could learn about Kiva and make a loan. It was incredible - imagine new Kiva Lenders getting the full experience as former fellows navigated them all over the Kiva website and helped them make a loan to one of our entrepreneurs that were also at the event. So cool!

Luis, an ACCION USA entrepreneur who was also featured on ABC, came with his son to the event. They brought along some wonderful pastries from one of the bakeries he has a delivery contract with.

To learn more about the importance of microfinance in the U.S., check out http://www.accionusa.org/.