BY: Dan Riehl
The fight against world poverty is something the World Bank has been trying to solve for decades, but there has never really been a solid solution until now using the power of the internet. A new non-profit organization harboring the entrepreneurial spirit has shown up in the market named Kiva. Kiva’s mission , according to their website www.kiva.com, is to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. The way the lending process works is by visiting Kiva’s website to become a member and then lending money to one of the field partners, which the lender chooses by analyzing factors such as the cause, focus, and country of the recipient.
The minimum lending amount is $25, which is paid back into Kiva lender accounts as partners start earning money because of the help users have provded. Currently there are 789,000 lenders who have lent $330 million dollars. One of the most interesting parts of Kiva’s business model is they don’t take a cut of any of the money being lent to partners. Kiva is funded through donations, grants, corporate sponsors, and foundations.
To read more information on Kiva visit their website at www.kiva.com