Friday Entrepreneurs: Premal Shah, Kiva.org
The usual loan terms are 12 months and over the course of your loan, you’ll receive periodic repayments which you can then re-invest in another entrepreneur or withdraw. In addition, you receive real business updates on the entrepreneur you’ve sponsored. So far, we’ve had a 100% repayment rate and we’re expecting at least a 96% repayment rate over time.
We think of Kiva as facilitating a kind of ‘grassroots capitalism’ — people here in the U.S. lending – not donating – a small amount to low income entrepreneurs in the developing world. For the low income entrepreneur, small amounts like $25 or $100 can provide the working capital needed to explode their small business growth, create a sustainable livelihood and enable them to repay you as an investment partner.
As I have said before, I really like helping people help themselves.
Comments
3 Comments so far
Micro Financing Entrepreneurs…
I am glad I found John Hunter’s information packed blog after his science fiction comment on Ender’s Game…(one of the few who read all the novels I think…ok I suffered through them all.)
While grazing around his site I found thi…
Kiva is lets you loan money directly to an entrepreneur of your choice. Kiva provides loans through partners (operating in the countries) to the entrepreneurs…
I have just placed an additional $150 in loans to 6 business entrepreneurs (in Honduras, Indonesia[2 loans], Tajikistan, Uganda and Ukraine), along with a $100 donation to Kiva…