Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

Status update - February 25, 2019 
LivelyHoods (formerly iSmart Kenya) was a Kiva partner starting from December 2013 and to date lent $122,150 by equipping dozens of young entrepreneurs with clean energy products for them to kickstart their own sustainable income generation. Unfortunately not all of these young entrepreneurs performed as everyone would have hoped and recovery of these loans has become impossible. LivelyHoods agreed on a partial payment plan with Kiva based on the funds received from borrowers and has met that obligation through small monthly repayments over the past 18 months. We will be defaulting the remaining balance and closing the partnership. We thank Livelyhoods for their partnership over the past 6 years and wish them success in their future endeavors.

Status update — June 20, 2017
Kiva and iSmart have agreed to wind down their partnership so that iSmart can focus on making their core business sustainable without the operational challenges of managing a lending program, and this partner has been moved to Inactive status. This Lending Partner has committed to repaying its outstanding balance to Kiva in full according to a repayment plan, whereby they make small repayments to Kiva lenders each month. Kiva staff remain in regular contact with iSmart and receive monthly status updates from the institution.

Partner description:

iSmart Kenya is a nonprofit organization in Kenya that creates jobs for youth by leveraging market demand for difficult-to-access, life-improving technologies in slum communities. Through iSmart Kenya, youth living in poverty earn an income and gain the professional skills required for a lifetime of employment.

According to the World Bank, youth unemployment is a major challenge that could critically hamper Kenya’s prosperity and progress toward its goals set for 2030. Today, about 400,000 youth in Kenyan slums are jobless and live in poverty. Youth living in slums lack marketable skills and work, but have potential and ambition. iSmart Kenya gives both men and women ages 18 to 35 the chance to earn a livelihood, improve their employability and increase their quality of life. For young men, this can mean leaving a dangerous gang life behind. For young women, this can mean later marriage and childbirth.

In 2011, the organization opened its first retail shop in a Nairobi slum. This shop has served as a central hub for over 80 youth sales representatives. They have sold thousands of solar lamps, clean cookstoves and reusable sanitary pads, generating almost US $100,000 in revenue. These products improve the lives of the people who buy them and the youth who sell them. Kiva lenders’ funds are used to help iSmart Kenya achieve greater impact in two key ways: 1) by mitigating the risk of supply gaps and 2) by improving the ability to scale the model and expand into new slums.

A unique lending approach:

To date, 61%, of the youth that received iSmart Kenya training are employed. All of its sales representatives report to the shop at 8 a.m. daily, in uniform. After a sales coaching meeting, they bring in cash or mobile payment receipts from the previous day's sales. They then exchange or replenishes their daily $75 consignment of products. Sales representatives earn commissions that are disbursed in a monthly paycheck.

The organization aims to ensure that at least 75% of all former sales agents are employed or are in school after an iSmart Kenya intervention. It does so by evaluating each youth on an impact scorecard that includes qualitative and quantitative impact indicators including, but not limited to: employment status, income level, savings, acquired professional skills, employment classification, and months unemployed since iSmart Kenya’s intervention.

iSmart Kenya works with award-winning social enterprises that manufacture life-changing products including D.Light, Paradigm Initiatives and Barefoot Power. They also partner with mobile payment companies like Kopo Kopo and M-PESA. iSmart Kenya has received prestigious awards and fellowships including the Mara Foundation Entrepreneurship Award, the Global Catalyst Initiative Award from Global Agents for Change, the Cordes Fellowship, the Global Social Benefit Incubator Fellowship, and the Unreasonable Institute Fellowship for Social Innovation.

iSmart Kenya joined Kiva through our  Experimental Partnership Program, and has therefore received a lighter level of due diligence. Accordingly, loans associated with this partner carry a higher level of risk than typical Kiva loans.