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.
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