Microfinancing to Grow Small Businesses
I have always liked the quote attributed to Lao Tzu - "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." Kiva.org embodies this ideal through global microfinance.
Kiva is an on-line lending platform which allows individuals in the developed world, to make small business loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world. When I opened my law firm in 2008 with my law partner, Tiffany Schmidt, I looked for a symbol of our entrepreneurial spirit, and I found Kiva. To date, I have successfully made 8 loans, including loans to a retail business owner in the Congo, a general store owner in Rwanda, a charcoal sales person in Ghana, a single mother raising chickens in Tanzania, a group of women producing food for sale in Paraguay, and a cattle farmer in Azerbaijan. I was notified the loans had been repaid and today, I made loans to a group of women selling flour and cooking oil in Sierra Leone, a single mother of three with a garment business in Mongolia, and a group of farmers in Kenya to purchase fertilizer and seed for the 2012 planting season.
As my law firm has grown, it has been fun to receive updates on my Kiva loans, and learn about the progress of the global businesses I am helping. Each loan has been for the sum of $25.00, a relatively small amount in western standards, but the global impact has been far greater as people build small local businesses, which in turn help raise their families, and lead to self-sufficiency.
Kiva was started by Mike and Jessica Flannery in 2004. They recognized many people in developing countries had no access to affordable credit. Kiva.org offers loans to handpicked microfinance institutions at 0% interest. These microfinance institutions, in turn screen local applicants, and lend money to individuals at a low interest rate. Updates on loan repayment are provided, and when the loans are repaid, the funds are available to re-loan to another small business enterprise.
During this holiday season, please consider microfinance, and help teach someone to “fish.” The world can be a better place, one small business at a time.
