Ivo Sotirov

Ivo's capital has not yet been disbursed, athough we are preparing the documents and expect to give him the money next week. The major issue has been working with Ivo to balance the amount of Chokeberries and Strawberries that are planted this year. Strawberry seeds are relatively cheap and take a fairly short growing season. Chokeberry bushes, however, are fairly expensive and take 3 years to grow before yielding harvest. The Chokeberry fruit sells for a higher price, and Ivo is anxious to begin planting them. Balancing the long-term growth plans of Ivo with the near-term needs of cash generation to repay the loan has been a fruitful exercise and we've figured out a plan that will do both.

Unfortunately, we’ve decided to not go ahead with a loan to Ivo. Our decision to not loan out your capital was based primarily on the fact that, in our opinion, there was a high likelihood that Ivo’s business would not be able to return your principal within the next twelve months. We recognize and appreciate the trust you have placed in Kiva and in us on the ground in Bulgaria to lend out your money only in situations where there is a clear path for the business in question to be able to generate sufficient cash flow to recover your principal in a clearly defined time frame. While every loan entails risk, a fairly extensive due diligence and background check process led us to believe that the risk on this potential loan was unacceptably high. We regret the fact that we were unable to uncover this information before posting Ivo’s business to Kiva. However, at this point, in order to avoid compounding our mistake, we are returning 100% of your money to you.

We realize this is disappointing for you, as it is for us. We’re working hard to make sure this remains a loan, not grant, program, and hope you understand our decision. We hope you consider re-lending your money to another worthy entrepreneur through the Kiva website.