I grew up eating home grown, home cooked food and learning hippie ways. As a busy young adult in Silicon Valley I ate out a lot and learned the hard way how important it is to eat organic food and proper combinations when I developed sensitivities to wheat and soy. I turned to Ayurveda as a means for staying balanced, combining foods that enhanced my health and finding delicious ways to enjoy things that were good for me. My passion was born for healthy, delicious, pure and proper food.
Since then, GMOs have been eliminated from mine and my family's diet and I aim to convert the rest of the conscious public to Organic Only as well.
One principle of Ayurveda is that what grows together goes together. This means that things that grow in the same region are generally healthy to combine. There is deep wisdom in regional, ancient cuisines. We use this in our recipes to create nutritionally balanced, totally delicious and completely digestible combinations. While we’re at it, we have ancient mantras chanted over the foods while they are being made, so they become even more vibrant with good energy and a blessing to those who eat them. I’m intensely proud that people think I’m pulling their leg when I tell them what is NOT in our cookie mix.
In my personal life, I meditate regularly. It is the most beautiful and impactful thing I have ever done. Outside work, I make it my business to make others happy and bring relief from stress to whomever I can in small and large ways. It was a cathartic moment when I realized I could use my business to do good.
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Choose a borrower
Browse categories of borrowers— people looking to grow businesses, go to school, switch to clean energy, and more.
Make a loan
Select a borrower who you connect with and help fund a loan with as little as $25.
Get repaid
Receive updates on your loans and see the dollars return to your Kiva account.
Repeat!
Use the repayment to support another borrower, or withdraw your money.
Learn more about how Kiva works
Funded
A loan of $9,000 helped us hire a previously incarcerated individual full time, buy equipment & ingredients and refresh our social presence.
Lisa's story
This loan is special because:
More about this loan
Business Description
Prana Foods arose out of Saturday breakfasts with friends over. Many told us these were the best pancakes they’d ever had, then begged us to sell them when we told them they were complete protein, rich in fiber, vegan and soy free.
We have developed the rest of our product line out of the need for allergen free, nutritious foods that have amazing texture and total purity—all organic and GMO free. We also bless our products with ancient mantras for health and wellbeing. We believe in making the blessing complete with our new business model.
Our new model is to hire previously incarcerated individuals, give them the gift of meditation to uplift their life, get rid of stress and provide them an excellent job that pays well and provides opportunities for further growth.
Currently we need capital to buy equipment, have product available to sell on our website and get our product into grocery stores in California. We have hired an employee through Young Women’s Freedom Center and are excited to partner with her in our growth. But right now she works for us part time on a contract basis, and does a low paying manufacturing job full time on swing shift. Most importantly, we want to be able to hire her full time on a living salary. She made a mistake once by just trying to survive and support her family.
As we grow, we want to hire more people like her and increase the wellbeing and happiness quotient for our customers and employees.
What is the purpose of this loan?
I am excited to hire our first previously incarcerated worker on a full time basis at a living wage so she can support her family and lead a more stress free life. Our equipment is outdated and small, requiring a lot of manual labor to produce our products. Better equipment will help us make more product at one time and allow our worker to do demos and sales as well. This will help us expand too!
A Kiva loan will help us buy a blending machine ($900), a low end bagging machine ($650), ingredients ($3688), refresh our social media ($1800) and pay our employee for one month ($4166.)
Loan details
Loan length:
Repayment schedule
Monthly: One repayment made per month
End of term: One repayment made at the end of the loan term
Irregular: Any other repayment schedule
To see a detailed repayment schedule for a specific loan, click the "Repayment schedule" link on the loan profile under "Loan details."
What is the disbursed date?
The disbursed date indicates the date that the borrower receives their loan funds. Loan disbursal for loans on Kiva can happen anywhere from 30 days before to 90 days after the loan is posted on the Kiva website. Direct loans are always post-disbursed, and will be done only after the loan has fully fundraised on Kiva.
In the case of partner loans, many of Kiva's Field Partners choose to disburse loan funds before the loan request is posted on Kiva. We allow pre-disbursal because it ensures that the funds reach the borrower as soon as they are needed. Loan funds from Kiva lenders then go to backfill that amount and as a lender you assume the risk of the loan. By doing this, our Field Partners assume the risk that, if the loan isn't funded by Kiva lenders, the Field Partner has to fund the loan without any funds from Kiva lenders.
If a partner loan is not pre-disbursed, it will be listed on Kiva with an expected "post-disbursed" date. If a post-disbursed loan is not funded on Kiva, there is a chance that the borrower may not receive their loan. Some Field Partners choose to disburse loans with other sources of funding, while other partners don't have the resources available to fund loans without Kiva lenders' support. No direct loans will be disbursed unless they fully fundraise on Kiva.
What is currency exchange loss and how could it affect my Kiva loans?
Potential for currency exchange loss is noted on every loan profile under the loan details:
"Covered" means the Field Partner has opted to cover any currency loss. Lenders will not bear losses due to currency fluctuation.
"Possible" means the Field Partner has opted not to cover these losses, and lenders face additional risk because they will bear losses greater than 10%.
"N/A" means the Field Partner disburses loans to borrowers in USD so their loans are not subject to any currency fluctuation.
Do Kiva borrowers pay any interest on their loans?
Our partners collect interest from borrowers because there are many operational expenses associated with microfinance in developing markets, especially in rural areas. Many of Kiva's Field Partners also provide additional services alongside their loan products such as business training, financial literacy lessons, or health services.
Kiva will not partner with an organization that charges unreasonable interest rates, and we require Field Partners to fully disclose their rates. In addition, we only partner with microfinance institutions and organizations that have a social mission to serve the poor, unbanked, and underserved.
There are some 0% interest loans on Kiva, including all direct loans in the United States. To learn more about the interest rates Kiva borrowers pay, you can review the "Average cost to borrower" field on a loan profile.
What is a risk rating?
The Field Partner risk rating reflects the risk of institutional default associated with each of Kiva’s Field Partners. A 0.5-star rating means the organization has a relatively higher risk of institutional default, while a 5-star rating indicates the organization is at a relatively lower risk of default, based on Kiva's analysis and the available information displayed in the Field Partner section of every loan. Field Partners with the lowest credit tier undergo a lighter level of due diligence and do not receive a risk rating; instead, in places where a risk rating would normally appear, these partners are labeled as “Experimental.” For more information, see "What is an Experimental Field Partner?"
Direct loans also do not receive a formal risk rating. Instead, these loans are approved through “social underwriting”, where trustworthiness is determined by friends & family lending a portion of the loan request, or by a Kiva approved Trustee vouching for the borrower. Direct loans will appear as "Unrated" and lenders should always assume these loans represent the highest level of repayment risk on Kiva.
How are loans facilitated?
Kiva loans are facilitated through 2 models, partner and direct, that enable us to reach the greatest number of people around the world.
For partner loans, borrowers apply to a local Field Partner, which manages the loan on the ground. Field Partners are responsible for screening borrowers, disbursing loans, posting borrowers to the Kiva website for funding, collecting repayments and otherwise administering Kiva loans on the ground to borrowers.
For direct loans, borrowers apply through the Kiva website and may or may not be endorsed by a Trustee. Unlike Field Partners, Trustees don't handle any financial transactions or have any duty to repay loans on behalf of their borrowers. Instead, Trustees take the role of providing support and business advice to their borrowers throughout the term of the loan.
More information about successive and concurrent loans
Field Partners often work with borrowers over time to help them build credit and expand their businesses. In order to make it easier for partners to post loans for borrowers who have been listed on Kiva before, we allow some partners the ability to relist a loan without having to re-enter all of the borrower's information. When this occurs, you'll see an updated loan description, as well as excerpts of the original descriptions from an earlier loan.
Most borrowers take out loans consecutively, meaning that they receive a second loan after having repaid the first. However, sometimes our Field Partners give out concurrent loans, allowing borrowers to take out one primary loan and a secondary "add-on" loan along with it. These additional loans are typically smaller than the borrower's primary loan and serve a different purpose. We trust our partners to determine whether a borrower has the means to be able to repay a successive or concurrent loan.
About Prana Foods, PBC
Lenders and lending teams
Country: United States
Trustee: Jenny Kassan
What are Trustee tiers?
For for more information about Trustee tiers, visit: kivaushub.org/trustee-tiers
Why are you endorsing Lisa?
The first time I met Lisa she handed me the most delicious cookie I have ever tasted. Then I found out that this cookie is made with the best, healthiest, allergen-free ingredients! Once I got to know Lisa better, I learned that she is passionate about bringing healthy delicious food to the world in a way that honors people and the planet. She also wants to create well-paid, fulfilling jobs for people that have faced multiple challenges.
Tags
Loan tags help lenders find loans that match certain areas of interest.
Loan details
Loan length:
Repayment schedule
Monthly: One repayment made per month
End of term: One repayment made at the end of the loan term
Irregular: Any other repayment schedule
To see a detailed repayment schedule for a specific loan, click the "Repayment schedule" link on the loan profile under "Loan details."
What is the disbursed date?
The disbursed date indicates the date that the borrower receives their loan funds. Loan disbursal for loans on Kiva can happen anywhere from 30 days before to 90 days after the loan is posted on the Kiva website. Direct loans are always post-disbursed, and will be done only after the loan has fully fundraised on Kiva.
In the case of partner loans, many of Kiva's Field Partners choose to disburse loan funds before the loan request is posted on Kiva. We allow pre-disbursal because it ensures that the funds reach the borrower as soon as they are needed. Loan funds from Kiva lenders then go to backfill that amount and as a lender you assume the risk of the loan. By doing this, our Field Partners assume the risk that, if the loan isn't funded by Kiva lenders, the Field Partner has to fund the loan without any funds from Kiva lenders.
If a partner loan is not pre-disbursed, it will be listed on Kiva with an expected "post-disbursed" date. If a post-disbursed loan is not funded on Kiva, there is a chance that the borrower may not receive their loan. Some Field Partners choose to disburse loans with other sources of funding, while other partners don't have the resources available to fund loans without Kiva lenders' support. No direct loans will be disbursed unless they fully fundraise on Kiva.
What is currency exchange loss and how could it affect my Kiva loans?
Potential for currency exchange loss is noted on every loan profile under the loan details:
"Covered" means the Field Partner has opted to cover any currency loss. Lenders will not bear losses due to currency fluctuation.
"Possible" means the Field Partner has opted not to cover these losses, and lenders face additional risk because they will bear losses greater than 10%.
"N/A" means the Field Partner disburses loans to borrowers in USD so their loans are not subject to any currency fluctuation.
Do Kiva borrowers pay any interest on their loans?
Our partners collect interest from borrowers because there are many operational expenses associated with microfinance in developing markets, especially in rural areas. Many of Kiva's Field Partners also provide additional services alongside their loan products such as business training, financial literacy lessons, or health services.
Kiva will not partner with an organization that charges unreasonable interest rates, and we require Field Partners to fully disclose their rates. In addition, we only partner with microfinance institutions and organizations that have a social mission to serve the poor, unbanked, and underserved.
There are some 0% interest loans on Kiva, including all direct loans in the United States. To learn more about the interest rates Kiva borrowers pay, you can review the "Average cost to borrower" field on a loan profile.
What is a risk rating?
The Field Partner risk rating reflects the risk of institutional default associated with each of Kiva’s Field Partners. A 0.5-star rating means the organization has a relatively higher risk of institutional default, while a 5-star rating indicates the organization is at a relatively lower risk of default, based on Kiva's analysis and the available information displayed in the Field Partner section of every loan. Field Partners with the lowest credit tier undergo a lighter level of due diligence and do not receive a risk rating; instead, in places where a risk rating would normally appear, these partners are labeled as “Experimental.” For more information, see "What is an Experimental Field Partner?"
Direct loans also do not receive a formal risk rating. Instead, these loans are approved through “social underwriting”, where trustworthiness is determined by friends & family lending a portion of the loan request, or by a Kiva approved Trustee vouching for the borrower. Direct loans will appear as "Unrated" and lenders should always assume these loans represent the highest level of repayment risk on Kiva.
How are loans facilitated?
Kiva loans are facilitated through 2 models, partner and direct, that enable us to reach the greatest number of people around the world.
For partner loans, borrowers apply to a local Field Partner, which manages the loan on the ground. Field Partners are responsible for screening borrowers, disbursing loans, posting borrowers to the Kiva website for funding, collecting repayments and otherwise administering Kiva loans on the ground to borrowers.
For direct loans, borrowers apply through the Kiva website and may or may not be endorsed by a Trustee. Unlike Field Partners, Trustees don't handle any financial transactions or have any duty to repay loans on behalf of their borrowers. Instead, Trustees take the role of providing support and business advice to their borrowers throughout the term of the loan.
More information about successive and concurrent loans
Field Partners often work with borrowers over time to help them build credit and expand their businesses. In order to make it easier for partners to post loans for borrowers who have been listed on Kiva before, we allow some partners the ability to relist a loan without having to re-enter all of the borrower's information. When this occurs, you'll see an updated loan description, as well as excerpts of the original descriptions from an earlier loan.
Most borrowers take out loans consecutively, meaning that they receive a second loan after having repaid the first. However, sometimes our Field Partners give out concurrent loans, allowing borrowers to take out one primary loan and a secondary "add-on" loan along with it. These additional loans are typically smaller than the borrower's primary loan and serve a different purpose. We trust our partners to determine whether a borrower has the means to be able to repay a successive or concurrent loan.
Trustee: Jenny Kassan
What are Trustee tiers?
For for more information about Trustee tiers, visit: kivaushub.org/trustee-tiers
Why are you endorsing Lisa?
The first time I met Lisa she handed me the most delicious cookie I have ever tasted. Then I found out that this cookie is made with the best, healthiest, allergen-free ingredients! Once I got to know Lisa better, I learned that she is passionate about bringing healthy delicious food to the world in a way that honors people and the planet. She also wants to create well-paid, fulfilling jobs for people that have faced multiple challenges.
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