The last time my friend Samee and I had significant face time, she introduced me to Kiva, a microfinance website in which she was a lender, lending $25 at a time to small businesses and entrepreneurs in developing parts of the world.
It’s microfinance and at the time I thought it was a really cool idea.
I finally got around to looking at the site more closely today, deciding to lend $25 to Aventina Amélia Biza, an entrepreneur running a liquor store, selling drinks and sodas with a pool table that I hope encourages lingering visits with multiple drink purchases. She’s raised her $350 and has promised to pay it back over the next five months, complete with interest.
When I told Samee about it today she was both delighted (“Wow, you’ve done a good thing!”) and a bit disturbed (“A liquor store?!”).
I figure that the liquor store is likely to repay its loan and then I can make more loans doing more good in the long run. If you want, you can keep track of my loans on my Kiva Lender Page.
Adam,
Thank you for posting this. I’d heard of microfinancing of course, but never knew than anyone with a credit card can get involved via the web. I’d say a 0.2% default rate is pretty low.
Adam – You are saving the world, one alcoholic at a time!
Adam – You are saving the world, one alcoholic at a time!