Kiva is a non-profit organization that connects
people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a
worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as
little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.
Its story starts at San Francisco in
2003. Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley started to think about it
after attending a talk about microloans in Stanford. When in Africa, they
interviewed entrepreneurs about the problems they faced in starting ventures;
they found the common theme was always the same: the lack of access to start-up
capital. When they went back to the States they began developing a
microfinance project: they gave their first seven loans in April 2005 for a
total amount of $3,500; in September everything was totally repaid. It was the
moment to found Kiva (that means “unity” in Swahili) as a NPO. Premal Shah from
Paypal and Reid Hoffman from Linkedin joined the
team.
Since then, if we have a look to their numbers… Continue at Megafounder Blog
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