What to know about this Lending Partner
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 - 11/24/2025:
Kiva has decided to pause Jibu Tanzania’s access to fundraising loans on the Kiva platform. Due to a current inability to access liquid assets, such as cash or short-term borrowing, this organization has been unable to repay Kiva lenders in full for repayments made by Kiva borrowers. Kiva is actively monitoring Jibu Tanzania's evolving financial situation and will continue to follow up with the partner in an effort to recover payments due. We'll provide additional relevant information to lenders as it becomes available.
Partner description:
Jibu (meaning “solution” in Swahili) Tanzania is a social enterprise tackling the drinking water and unemployment crises by training local workers to be successful social entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs are quickly expanding a network of locally-owned drinking water franchises in Tanzania. Each one provides affordable, safe, and clean water to their underserved communities.
Jibu entrepreneurs are able to offer affordable, clean drinking water by setting up filtration systems tailored to each community, based on available water sources. Customers pay a bottle deposit and then exchange an empty bottle for a new, full bottle, avoiding any middleman markups.
A unique lending approach:
Jibu Tanzania uses Kiva financing to provide credit to purchase water bottle inventory and delivery vehicles, allowing franchisees to quickly scale up their businesses. Loans are repaid from profits on bottle sales.