Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
So far this month six new startups!
So far this month, Mega Star Media INC has help fund six startups from around the world. For every new client we get, we pledge to donate and help a small business do well for itself through Kiva.org.
Chahangir Mustafayev
Auto Repair, Azerbaijan
Raising Funds
90% raised
Jeymi Ruiz Castillo
Beauty Salon, Nicaragua
Raising Funds
42% raised
Blanca Ninoska Cubas Herrera
Services, Nicaragua
Raising Funds
30% raised
Gwladys Noumedo
Beauty Salon, Benin
Raising Funds
66% raised
Apate Jean Blucktor
Vehicle Repairs, Togo
Raising Funds
14% raised
Sifa Lameck
Beauty Salon, Tanzania
Raising Funds
12% raised
Chahangir Mustafayev
Auto Repair, Azerbaijan
Raising Funds
90% raised
Jeymi Ruiz Castillo
Beauty Salon, Nicaragua
Raising Funds
42% raised
Blanca Ninoska Cubas Herrera
Services, Nicaragua
Raising Funds
30% raised
Gwladys Noumedo
Beauty Salon, Benin
Raising Funds
66% raised
Apate Jean Blucktor
Vehicle Repairs, Togo
Raising Funds
14% raised
Sifa Lameck
Beauty Salon, Tanzania
Raising Funds
12% raised
Quick facts on Kiva.org and why you should be a part of it
Total value of all loans made through Kiva: $31,689,710
Number of Kiva Lenders: 295,974
Number of loans that have been funded through Kiva: 46,127
Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs: 76.89%
Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with): 90
Number of countries Kiva Field Partners are located in: 43
Current repayment rate (all partners): 99.75%
Current default rate (all partners): 0.25%
Average size of loan for funding: $498.21
Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds): $107.75
Average number of loans per Kiva Lender: 2.75
Number of Kiva Lenders: 295,974
Number of loans that have been funded through Kiva: 46,127
Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs: 76.89%
Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with): 90
Number of countries Kiva Field Partners are located in: 43
Current repayment rate (all partners): 99.75%
Current default rate (all partners): 0.25%
Average size of loan for funding: $498.21
Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds): $107.75
Average number of loans per Kiva Lender: 2.75
Quick facts on Kiva.org and why you should be a part of it
Total value of all loans made through Kiva: $31,689,710
Number of Kiva Lenders: 295,974
Number of loans that have been funded through Kiva: 46,127
Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs: 76.89%
Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with): 90
Number of countries Kiva Field Partners are located in: 43
Current repayment rate (all partners): 99.75%
Current default rate (all partners): 0.25%
Average size of loan for funding: $498.21
Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds): $107.75
Average number of loans per Kiva Lender: 2.75
Number of Kiva Lenders: 295,974
Number of loans that have been funded through Kiva: 46,127
Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs: 76.89%
Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with): 90
Number of countries Kiva Field Partners are located in: 43
Current repayment rate (all partners): 99.75%
Current default rate (all partners): 0.25%
Average size of loan for funding: $498.21
Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds): $107.75
Average number of loans per Kiva Lender: 2.75
Philanthropy 2.0
How do you give back?
Hello my name is Sandy Rowley, I am a local SEO web design expert and coach helping small business in the Reno Nevada area and across the USA to increase their rankings online. My goal is to help you, the small business owner, out fox the big box stores that are taking over our small towns in the USA. I LOVE working one on one with small business owners who have the passion and determination to thrive. Once a month I give a free internet marketing workshop to help small businesses. Also I give a one on one marketing training session over the phone to one small business owner a month. I normally charge $165 an hour for these sessions. The return value these small businesses receive will help them earn that money back and then some... pretty quick.
What does that mean, increase rankings online?
Thousands of people are searching for your products and services in Google, Yahoo and Bing right now, even in small towns across the country. Think about it, you are on this blog post right now reading this simple little SEO blog. Were you searching in a search engine on ways to make more sales or how to increase website traffic to your local business? I bet you were! ;)
Did you search for 'Reno Search Engine Optimization'? or something close?
My business website is www.RenoWebDesigner.com see the top ranking for Reno search engine optimization in Google? That is an example of increasing website traffic for my business. I use a marketing strategy called SEO or search engine optimization. Although I am located in the heart of downtown Reno Nevada, I have clients all over the state of Nevada and the US.
I also am a member of an international organization that helps small businesses in 3rd world countries with small no interest loans. I know how challenging it is to run a small business in Reno, let alone in a country with no infrastructure, safety nets or access to affordable loans. I admire these men and women who work to find a way to support their families and choose to move forward with determination and good old fashioned work ethic.
MySpace has changed the way the entertainers relate to their fans, Craigslist has changed the way people find a job or a room-for-rent, Kiva has changed the way people give back.
Kiva posts a picture of each loan recipient on the internet, so that contributors can see who they are helping, read their name and learn their story through their business description. Kiva Field Partners post updates to each business throughout the loan term, and lenders can post comments in reply to the Partner Representative, asking questions about the business or expressing their encouragement for the entrepreneur. Kiva demands accountability for loan funds by tracking repayments in a transparent way, and publishing all progress reports - both positive and negative.
The ease with which we can now gather information from around the world has changed the way the public want to give. By creating a platform through which people can connect - much the same as MySpace or Craigslist - Kiva is giving philanthropy a 2.0 twist, enabling individuals to give an entrepreneur halfway around the world their vote of confidence with just $25.
Join me and thousands of others who donate interest free loans to small business owners around the world.
Keva.org Sandy Rowley Mega Star Media INC lender page / media
Recent Press
President Clinton goes 'On the Record' with FOX News about Kiva.org.
Watch the video
Read the transcript
John Larson travels to Africa to visit the Kiva Entrepreneurs he has loaned to.
Watch the video
President Clinton has a conversation with Keith Olbermann about Kiva.org.
Watch the video (Part 3: Clinton's Global Initiative)
Read the transcript
Frontline/World travels to Uganda to meet Kiva Entrepreneurs.
Watch the 15 minute documentary
Today Show's John Larson makes a Kiva Loan!
Watch the video
Riz Khan speaks to Kiva.org President Premal Shah.
Watch the video
Town & Country, June 2008
Doing Good at a Distance
“Individual loans, which start at $25, help fund everyone from a grocer in South Lebanon to a farmer in Tajikistan - and as each small business succeeds, the entrepreneur pays back the loan, with interest.”
CNN, April 3, 2008
Your $25 can start a business, change a life
“ This is microfinancing. It allows everyday people to invest as little as $25 to help people in developing countries climb out of poverty. The concept of microfinancing is nothing new. At its essence, it's making small loans to the working poor. The loans are used to establish or expand small businesses to help families earn more money.”
The Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2008
Microlending for Microbankers
“The Web site run by KIVA (www.kiva.org) has attracted a lot of attention to microfinance in the past two years. Individuals could select a recipient and contribute $25 or more online. The money is typically repaid and could be lent again or taken out of the account.”
FOX News, March 17, 2008
On The Record with Greta Van Susteren
“PRESIDENT CLINTON: For as little as $25, you can actually go on this website, pick a, let's say, guy running a garage in Afghanistan, and contribute money, and you see the effect of your money.
Then they pay your money back, and when you get paid back, you can either turn around and loan it to someone else, or take it back.
VAN SUSTEREN: I've done that, actually, and it's fun.
CLINTON: It is fun, isn't it?
The Boston Globe, March 10, 2008
Tale of microloans urges kids to generosity
“With $10, for example, a child could download some iTunes or - through an online lending service like Kiva - potentially change a person's life...”
MarketWatch from Dow Jones, March 4, 2008
Five ways to give like an entrepreneur
“Circumvent the International Money Fund: With as little as $20, you can be a microlender.”
Fortune, March 3, 2008
The only nonprofit that matters
“The toast of Oprah, the Today show, and Bill Clinton's latest tome, Giving, Kiva is a way for First World lenders to link with developing-world entrepreneurs, be they Peruvian farmers, Afghan basket weavers, or even Ugandan liquor store owners. And if someone like Mukasa seems unlike the typical charity case, well, this is not the typical charity.”
Cosmopolitan, March 2008
The Giving Chronicles: Pay Pals
“While doing nonprofit work in East Africa, Jessica Jackley Flannery saw what a huge difference a small amount of money can make for poor entrepreneurs. That inspired her to cofound kiva.org, the first person-to-person microflending Website.”
PC World.ca, February 20, 2008
Next Gen Giving: Charity and Social Networks
“At Kiva.org, you can browse business profiles and photographs, find a borrower whose story interests or engages you, and then loan them a certain amount (it can be as little as $25, or it can be much more) though PayPal, which waives all Kiva.org transaction fees.”
USA Today, February 11, 2008
Valentine's Day gifts must be politically correct these days
“Also popular are gift certificates from Kiva (kiva.org), which lets consumers lend small sums to workers in developing countries. Elaine DiRico, a retired chef from Austin, bought a $50 card for her husband: "It's a way to create a caring community.”
CNET, February 8, 2008
Kiva humanizes microlending to third-world entrepreneurs
“Kiva, a peer-to-peer online microlending nonprofit organization, is changing the dynamics of microfinance by linking people who have money to loan up with entrepreneurs in developing countries who need some capital, all over the Internet. What is considered pocket change for many people in the United States can go a long way toward helping a struggling businessman get started in another part of the world.”
Financial Times, February 2, 2008
Satisfaction guaranteed by a little research
“Kiva.org helps donors connect with, and lend money to, entrepreneurs and small businesses in developing countries. By engaging in this sort of microfinance, donors hope to enable the working poor to move towards economic independence.”
Spirit, February 2008
The Knowledge: Jessica Flannery
“Giving a loan through Kiva makes a huge impact that can be difficult to quantify. Nearly all the entrepreneurs have been poor all their lives. But the loan communicates hope, and tells the entrepreneur that you, the lender, have faith in her.”
Business Record, January 26, 2008
Global Reach
“Mike Messina isn't an international banker, and he's certainly no Bill Gates, but that hasn't stopped him from financing small businesses on a global scale. In less than a year, Messina has loaned more than $2,000 of his savings, mostly $25 at a time, to 48 small businesses in two dozen countries through Kiva.org, a Web-based micro-lending organization.”
ABC 7, January 17, 2008
Nobel Prize winner inspires non-profit
“We live in the land of jumbo-mortgages and giant business loans. But in many places around the world, it doesn't take that kind of money to make a difference. A Bay Area non-profit is a case-in-point.” Watch the story here.
Financial Times, January 12, 2008
Charity no longer a cottage industry
“What is happening on kiva.org reflects three big trends in philanthropy. For a start, the activities of the website's users are global, with donors sending funds to far-off countries. Second, donors are looking for feedback on the impact of their donations. And third, technology is powering the transaction, facilitating the donation as well as providing information on the needs and the benefits of the funding.”
IBM Podcast, January 11, 2008
IBM and the Future of Microfinance
Jessica Flannery, Kiva.org Co-Founder, and Kevin Thompson, IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs Senior Program Manager, discuss the future of microfinance. Listen here.
Today Show, January 11, 2008
Loans that Change the World
NBC Correspondent John Larson: “I became a Kiva Lender about a year ago, so on a recent trip to Africa I checked out three Kiva borrowers I knew only by their photograph. I found this Masai tribeswoman, and this seed and grain merchant. All showed me how they were using their Kiva loans, he to buy inventory for his store and to rent land to farm, and she to buy cattle and buy more beads to make jewelery to sell to tourists.” Watch the show here.
Reuters, January 7, 2008
Oprah effect brings microlending to Main Street
“The credit crisis may be fouling up billion-dollar takeover deals, but if you're a poor African seamstress who needs a loan for a new sewing machine, you could not ask for a better borrowing market to expand your business. Anyone with $25 to spare and an Internet connection can now become an international microfinancier through Kiva, an organization that matches individual lenders with impoverished entrepreneurs in the developing world.”
The Sydney Morning Herald, January 1, 2008
Ten things that will change your future
“Kiva takes (the idea of peer-to-peer lending) and applies it to the established concept of microfinance - making small loans to the working poor to help them establish or expand businesses. So, instead of giving a donation to an organisation such as Oxfam to distribute, peer-to-peer lending lets you invest small amounts directly in a particular entrepreneur - such as Mohamad Marah in Kabala, Sierra Leone. With his $US200 loan, Marah has been able to expand his garment business, buying three extra sewing machines.”
Multilingual, January/February 2008
Changing the world one word at a time
“Helping low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries is an investment in the present and the future, and Kiva.org's volunteer translators play crucial roles in changing people's lives - only only on the presonal level, but also on the community and national levels.”
Herald News, December 31, 2007
Many using Web sites to find, help entrepreneurs around the world
“Unlike traditional charities, donors using sites like Kiva select who they want to help by browsing photos and stories posted online. Lenders track the recipients as they pay back the loan to a small microfinance bank in their home country.”
The Boston Globe, December 29, 2007
Change the world, one click at a time
“Kiva.org, founded in 2005, connects lenders with entrepreneurs in developing countries. Lenders are able to feel a personal connection with a project and can get progress updates from the borrowers, instead of feeling that they are giving money to a nameless institution.”
Marketplace Morning Report, December 25, 2007
Small Loans Appeal to Bootstrap Crowd
“Microloans have become a trend in international development circles... Typically, the giving is the domain of the U.N. But now, a growing number of websites are giving ordinary people the chance to get involved. Kiva.org was the first of these peer-to-peer microcredit websites to launch.”
National Post, December 19, 2007
Giving the gifts the keep on giving
“Endorsed by former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities, this new organization is now offering gift certificates, making it easy to leave that special someone a bit of socio-economic philanthropy under the tree along with all the PlayStations, cashmere sweaters and so on.”
Good Morning America, December 18, 2007
'Tis the Season for Giving
“Kiva.org is a groundbreaking Web site that allows one to lend money directly to aspiring entrepreneurs in developing countries... The system gives struggling entrepreneurs access to financial services that have not been available to them.”
Forbes, December 14, 2007
Give Like An Entrepreneur
“Kiva.org allows budding entrepreneurs in the developing world to solicit loans. They outline their needs, their plans to use the money and their ability to repay a loan.”
The United States Department of State USINFO, December 12, 2007
Web Site Lets People Offer Microloans to Borrowers Worldwide
“Kiva did not invent microfinance - the supply of loans, savings and other small-scale financial services to the poor - but its creation of an online marketplace for lenders and borrowers is innovative enough to have led to explosive growth of over 30 percent per month since the Web site's founding in 2005.”
CBC News: Sunday, December 9, 2007
The Gift of Charity
“Instead of buying someone another tie or pair of earrings, would you consider giving a holiday gift that could change the world?” Watch here.
Ode, December 2007
Think outside the bank
“Combine the principles of microfinance and online social networking, and you get a new phenomenon: peer-to-peer lending, or social lending as it's sometimes called. In the last two years, more than a dozen websites have been launched to connect borrowers and lenders - no banks required... One site, Kiva, is using the concept to fund no-interest loans in developing nations ”
The Economist, December 2007
Six of the best: Our selection of trend-spotters' tips for 2008
“'Peer-to-peer' lending is working its way into the charitable sector, too: Kiva.org puts potential 'social investors' in touch with small businesses in the developing world, which promise to send e-mail updates on how the business is developing.”
USA Today, December 11 2008
Green gifts: 'Oh, you shouldn't have - really!'
“Stephanie Preble, 37, a Seattle teacher, caterer and mother of three, says her family can live without Christmas wrapping paper. They also plan to donate to Kiva.org, the online loan-giving charity, but will still keep the traditional stocking-stuffers and gifts from Santa for the kids.”
Domino, December/January 2008
Antidote to Overload
“Microlending is one of the cleverest ways to give... At Kiva.org, a $25 gift card you purchase for a friend can then help a struggling business owner in a third-world country, like a candy-store owner in Ukraine who wants to expand inventory, or a vegetable vendor in Azerbaijan.”
NEED, December 2007
Generosity: Gifts that Give
“Ever thought of dabbling in a new business venture? Do you have $25 USD to laon to someone transitioning out of poverty? Kiva could be just the organization you are looking for.”
Common Ground, December 2007
More Love, Less Stuff
“By "sponsoring" a small businesses or individual in the developing world through Kiva (kiva.org), you can help the world's working poor make real progress towards economic independence.”
Business Nation, December 5, 2007
Kiva
“A look at how a network of small lenders, brought together by a remarkable website, is making a big difference in developing nations, one micro loan at a time.” Watch here.
Minnesota Public Radio, December 4, 2007
Where tiny loans make a big difference
“Kiva has received a lot of attention for the innovative way it allows people around the world to make loans. Everyday people can act as banks, and make a loan of as little as $25 over the Internet.” Listen here.
Forbes.com, November 14, 2007
Microfinance Movement
“Want to help start a small business in an emerging market from the comfort of your armchair? Well now you can, with Kiva.org.” Watch here.
Al Jazeera, November 8, 2007
Riz Khan
“Becoming a banker to the poor is a lot easier than you think. You can now help lift people out of poverty with... USD 25, thanks to a website that effectively targets the needy. Kiva.org is only 2 years old but in that short time it has made big waves in the world of microfinance.” Watch here.
Stanford Magazine, November/December 2007
Small Change, Big Payoff
“Like MySpace or Facebook, Kiva functions as a community, so you can browse through profiles of other lenders (complete with photos, hometowns, philosophies and portfolios) to see who's involved with what. The site's Journal section offers progress reports on the entrepreneurs (and their repayments) as well as recommendations. Then you can pick a business to help finance.”
CBS News, October 31, 2007
Fight Poverty With Online Microlending
“You've heard the story - "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, give him a fishing rod and he eats for life." In this business model, you lend him money to buy the fishing rod so that he can fish, sell his fish, hire an apprentice and repay the loan.”
Smithsonian Magazine, October 2007
37 Under 36: America's Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences.
I, Lender
“Kiva operates on a people-to-people model, allowing private individuals to make loans to borrowers seeking to establish small businesses in developing countries.”
African Path, October 15, 2007
Microfinance: Kiva unlocks the golden pot with a click
“Kiva is like a feel good story where everyone wins: the lender, the borrower and Kiva's partners. There is room for expansion and a few more smiles for entrepreneurs in developing countries.”
Hartford Courant, October 4, 2007
Tiny Business Loans Pay Big Emotional Return
“A nonprofit based in San Francisco, Kiva has not yet celebrated its two-year anniversary and is already attracting international attention for its unique mission - blending the principles of microfinancing with the power of online social networking to deliver business loans to the world's working poor.”
San Francsico Chronicle, September 30, 2007
Microcredit movement tackling poverty one tiny loan at a time
“Kiva.org, praised by Clinton in his new book, is the first organization to take microcredit online and link lenders and borrowers. People who want to make loans - the minimum is $25 - choose recipients on the Web site and use their credit cards and PayPal.”
Sydney Morning Herald, September 29, 2007
Harnessing the power of the net to support Third World businesses
“Last month I became a financier, or, to be more specific, a microfinancier. I lent $50 to Saitia Teropika in Samoa. I've never been to Samoa or met Teropika, but I know she's 37 years old and has nine children. I know the money is to help her buy seeds and pesticides to expand her market garden. I know all this because of an innovative organisation called Kiva, which supports charity in the form of zero-interest business loans. It does this by using a website to link people in the First World to people in the Third.”
The Wall Street Journal Online, September 23, 2007
Help Impoverished Entrepreneurs With Loans
“While Americans gave record sums to charity last year, some are finding that loaning their money can be altruistic as well... The basic idea is to make small, short-term "microloans" to impoverished entrepreneurs who don't otherwise have access to capital -- helping improve their businesses and therefore their lives.”
NHK, September 8, 2007
Let's save Uganda with 25 dollars per loan: A new Loan Business challenging poverty
“'Kiva' is a social venture which supports people in developing nations with a common citizen's 25 dollars per loan... Already they have collected 10 million dollars and loaned to more than 30 nations in the world. Uganda is where the Flannerys started this loan, and now more than 500 people have received loans, creating businesses such as peanut butter retail, taxi driver, etc.”
Morning Edition, September 7, 2007
President Clinton speaks about Kiva.org as a way that people can give:
“With Kiva you can make a small business loan of as little as $25, to a business man or a woman whom you select on the Kiva website. It will be delivered through a local non-governmental organization that can be trusted to monitor the progress of the business and make sure the money gets paid back. They have an enormous repayment rate, and then when you see what your loan did, when it's repaid, you can either turn around and loan the money to a new Kiva recipient or you can take your money back.” Listen here
The Oprah Winfrey Show, September 4, 2007
Make a Difference
“'A revolutionary idea has made it possible for anyone to help people in Third World countries via the Internet - and it can be addictive! Visitors to Kiva.org can read the story of someone who needs help starting a small business. For as little as $25, they can choose a loan to partially finance - and help lift someone out of poverty in the process.”
Today Show, September 3, 2007
Changing the world one loan at a time
“' Kiva has re-invented lending in the 21st century. Anyone with at least $25 can log on to the site, browse the profiles of entrepreneurs in third-world countries and choose which cause to support.” Watch the show here.
PC Magazine, August 27, 2007
Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites
“Want to sink your cash into something more rewarding than an Apple iPhone? Put that $600 to work helping those less fortunate with Kiva, the site that lets you easily make small loans to deserving entrepreneurs worldwide.”
The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2007
A New Generation Reinvents Philanthropy
“' You can donate money to a charity, but it seems like it just goes into a pile and you never know what really goes on there,' says Mr. Alamo, the Kiva lender. 'With Kiva, you just pick someone out and lend to them directly and watch what they do and how they succeed. That was the main appeal.' Kiva, which started in the fall of 2005, has already drawn more than 89,600 lenders who have lent $10 million.”
Yahoo! News, August 21, 2007
The $10 Million Giveaway?
“In their office in San Francisco's Mission District, Matt and Jessica Flannery and Premal Shah work with the fervor and techno savvy of an Internet startup aiming for an IPO. But they aren't chasing the cash for themselves. They're doing it for Esther Egbulu in Nigeria, a mother of six who wants an $800 loan to stock her shop with frozen chickens and turkey...”
Kiplinger's Finance, August 2007
Fight Poverty With Micro Loans
“You don't have to be rich to be a venture capitalist. For as little as $25, you can provide seed capital to a fledgling baker in Azerbaijan or fund a home-products wholesaler in Ecuador.”
MSN Money, July 25, 2007
7 ways to buy happiness
“Kiva then pools these microloans so that specific individuals -- you can read their profiles on the Kiva Web site -- can accomplish their goals..”
The Seattle Times, June 22, 2007
Banking on Bulgaria's Gypsy businesses
“Through Kiva, we made interest-free loans of $25 each to Diana and to Silvia and Todor whose pictures, bios and business plans were posted on the nonprofit's Web site. Then on a recent trip to Bulgaria, we veered off the tourist route to visit our new partners and see how business was going.”
Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, June 19, 2007
Kiva - Life Changing Loans
“Direct and straightforward lending to individuals in developing countries is here... You don't have to be a Bill Gates to drastically change people's lives anymore.” Listen here.
Marketplace Money, June 8, 2007
Give to Global Entrepreneurship
“Normally, microfinancing happens on a larger scale. Banks and other financial outfits lend small amounts of money to people who are too poor to get a traditional loan. Usually, in the developing world. But several organizations - like Kiva.org - now allow you to become a microlender... New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently wrote about some loans that he's made. So we invited him to talk about the experience.” Listen here.
ABC World News Tonight, June 5, 2007
Peace Through PayPal?
“In Kirkuk, a city in northern Iraq that wavers between war and unsteady peace, a woman named Khadeja runs a beauty shop in the poorest section of town. She needs $1,200 to keep her business going -- a business that supports her parents and disabled brother. In Los Gatos, Calif., a real estate broker named Debby Bright is giving her a loan. Separated by roughly 7,000 miles, Bright and Khadeja connected through Kiva, an online lending network which recently added Iraqis to its list of entrepreneurs in poor countries who are looking to build up a business.” Watch the program here
CNN, May 24, 2007
CNN Heroes: Community Crusaders
“Kiva -- which means "unity" in Swahili -- allows individuals to make loans as small as $25 to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Since Kiva.org was launched more than two years ago, it has brokered more than $6.5 million in collateral-free loans to more than 9,000 businesses.” Watch here.
BBC Click, May 4, 2007
Social lending gains net interest
“The social lending site Kiva allows lenders to give to a specific entrepreneur in a poor or developing world country... This sort of scheme is generally called Microfinance. It is not new, but the web's ability to allow anyone to become a banker to the world's poor certainly is.” Watch the program here
World Vision Report, April 15, 2007
Direct Loans to Fight Poverty
“It's now possible for someone in the United States to make a small mini-loan directly to a person in need overseas. Just go to www.kiva.org, select a recipient, and make the loan. Virginia builder Tom Hutchinson did that. Host Peggy Wehmeyer hooked up Hutchison and the woman in Uganda who received his $50 loan for a meeting on the phone.”Listen here
Houston Chronicle, April 14, 2007
Anyone can lend a hand via Web
“More than 3,000 institutions around the world offer small, collateral-free "microcredit" loans to more than 113 million poor people. But Kiva, which boasts more than 54,000 lenders, is different in that it allows individuals in wealthy countries to lend directly — in amounts as little as $25 — to individuals in poorer ones.”
ABC 7 News, April 13, 2007
Local Website Helps Third World Countries Do Business
“A Bay Area nonprofit is changing lives in towns and villages half a world away. Kiva.org lets anyone with just a little bit of money be a banker to the poor.” Watch here
Forum, April 6, 2007
Microfinance and Social Justice Philanthropy
“Kiva just shows how compelling this idea can be and why micro-finance has been such a success as a policy initiative. It taps into the belief of many people who want to find ways to make a positive change in poor countries, poor regions, and shows how you can do it effectively.”
TIME, April 05, 2007
Lending a hand
“When Melecio Penafiel wanted to expand his tailoring shop in Guayaquil, Ecuador, last May, he didn't go to the bank or ask his relatives for help. His seed money arrived via the Internet. Using the website Kiva.org a Bay Area software engineer named Nathan Folkert lent Penafiel the $500 he needed to buy two new sewing machines, fabrics and thread for higher-quality suits. Folkert has never met Penafiel but says making the loan "felt like I was giving him a shot at the American Dream.”
San Jose Mercury News, March 16, 2007
Kiva spreads Valley wealth globally
“If you haven't yet heard of Kiva.org, a San Francisco non-profit that at just 18 months old is already the leading online microcredit site, you're about to...It's a remarkably simple system that highlights the power of online communities. Yet just as remarkable is how adeptly Kiva has harnessed the collective power of the Silicon Valley tech community.”
Slate, March 15, 2007
A Good Run for Your Money
Jude Stewart rates Kiva.org highest of six microlending websites.
“Finally: microlending as I'd imagined it...Kiva combines online community with microlending in a way that's truly exciting. It's remarkably compelling to see your borrower face to face - you can even contact them via their local lender rep.”
Foreign Policy, March/April 2007
Reach Out and Lend
”Don't let the fact that Kiva.org looks like Match.com fool you. It's a serious enterprise that enables person-to-person microlending from folks living in rich countries to entrepreneurs in the developing world.”
Newsweek, February 19, 2007
Microlending Do It Online
“Kiva.org is perhaps the leader in the field of microcredit online.”
Computerworld, January 29, 2007
Click and change the world: Microfinance for the masses
“Kiva, a San Francisco-based start-up, is using technology to connect small-stakes lenders around the world with impoverished entrepreneurs in developing countries - a feat that's helping to change the nature of microfinancing and global giving itself.”
Current TV, January 7, 2007
EBay for Do-Gooders
“Leveraging the Internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions (MFIs), Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help fund small businesses run by low-income entrepreneurs around the world.”
All Things Considered, December 23, 2006.
Young Donors Turn to Micro Loans
"If you've got even $25 to lend, you can point and click and become part of a global village promoting sustainable development." Listen Now.
BusinessWeek Small Biz, Winter 2006
A Tale of Two Lenders
“Kiva works only with entrepreneurs, which it finds with the help of microfinance institutions in developing countries. Those partners bring their clients to Kiva instead of to a local bank.”
The Seattle Times, December 18, 2006.
A web of giving
"Philanthropy used to be balls and receptions catering to high net-worth individuals... I think there's something democratizing if you can bring technology into it and let the average person be like a Bill Gates or a Rockefeller."
Frontline/World, October 31, 2006.
Uganda: A Little Goes A Long Way
Show synopsis: "A San Francisco company has taken the idea of microfinance and upgraded it for the Web. Radio reporter Clark Boyd... travels to Uganda for FRONTLINE/World, where the first recipients of money collected through Kiva's Web site are building and expanding businesses."Watch the video here.
The Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2006.
Small Loans, Good Intentions: Web Sites to Help You Act Like the Nobel Peace Prize Winner
"You, too, can have a big impact with a small amount of money."
ReadyMade, October/November, 2006.
A Little Largesse Goes A Long Way
"Becoming a junior phiolanthropist is simple: select from a list of profiled small busiensses in countries such as Ecuador and Uganda, choose any loan amount (as low as $25), and send it via PayPal...If only the Rockefellers had it this easy."
Good Magazine, Sept/Oct 2006.
D.I.Y. Venture Capitalists
"Would-be investors log on to Kiva, scan through profiles of low-income entrepreneurs-say, a man who wants to open a ashoe shop in Honduras or a goat farmer in Uganda - and shell out as litte as $25, via PayPal, to the recipient of their choice...the money provided through Kiva is a vital influx of capital for fledgling businesses around the world."
BusinessWeek Online, August 16, 2006.
Making Microfinance Easier
"New Kiva board member Reid Hoffman, CEO and co-founder of LinkedIn, says Kiva's got the right mix of elements to help it grow. Hoffman says he sees the same potential in Kiva that he saw in LinkedIn. "This has all the characteristics that could get into the hundreds of thousands or millions of users," he says."
The Nilson Report, August, 2006.
Peer-to-Peer Lending
"Kiva.org is the only not-for-profit peer-to-peer lender. It connects lenders in 30 developed markets with low-income entrepreneurs in 11 developing countries who need loans for their small businesses."
BusinessWeek, July 31, 2006.
A Little Money Goes A Long Way: Using the power of social networking to help small businesses around the world
"Friends and neighbors have been lending one another money forever, but as the Web makes virtual neighbors of strangers, Kiva, which is Swahili for 'agreement' or 'unity,' is harnessing the power of social networking to support microenterprise in the developing world."
ABC News, July 27, 2006.
Giving from the U.S. to Uganda
"A woman in East Africa is looking for a loan to try and buy some livestock - keep in mind that these steer are her family's livelihood and they could mean the difference between survival and severe poverty - but thanks to the internet and (Kiva) people from as far away as Europe, Asia and even the United States can all give toward her success in Kenya."
The Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2006.
Want to Bid on a Loan?
"Kiva.org... allows consumers to lend money to entrepreneurs and small businesses in developing countries."
NPR, July 17, 2006.
Is Microfinance Changing the World?
Click here to listen to KUOW's Weekday program as broadcast on NPR featuring Matt Flannery (CEO, Kiva.org), Alex Counts (President and CEO of Grameen Foundation USA) and Raj Shah (Director for Financial Services and Agriculture with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).
BusinessWeek Online, July 11, 2006.
An eBay for Microfinance
Click here to listen to BusinessWeek Online's podcast featuring Kiva as Innovation of the Week.
Entrepreneur, May 2006
Lend a Hand
"An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full."
BBC News, March 1, 2006.
Online loans help world's poor
"...revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries." Click here to listen to this story as broadcast on PRI's "The World", February 15, 2006.
CNN Money, January 17, 2006.
Be a global financier... on a shoestring
"If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier."
The Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2006.
A New Way to Do Well By Doing Good
"Smaller investors can also make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva."
The Village Voice, November 23, 2005.
Bigger Brother
"Kiva simply democratizes access to a worldwide microfinance movement that has been empowering the working poor for two decades."
President Clinton goes 'On the Record' with FOX News about Kiva.org.
Watch the video
Read the transcript
John Larson travels to Africa to visit the Kiva Entrepreneurs he has loaned to.
Watch the video
President Clinton has a conversation with Keith Olbermann about Kiva.org.
Watch the video (Part 3: Clinton's Global Initiative)
Read the transcript
Frontline/World travels to Uganda to meet Kiva Entrepreneurs.
Watch the 15 minute documentary
Today Show's John Larson makes a Kiva Loan!
Watch the video
Riz Khan speaks to Kiva.org President Premal Shah.
Watch the video
Town & Country, June 2008
Doing Good at a Distance
“Individual loans, which start at $25, help fund everyone from a grocer in South Lebanon to a farmer in Tajikistan - and as each small business succeeds, the entrepreneur pays back the loan, with interest.”
CNN, April 3, 2008
Your $25 can start a business, change a life
“ This is microfinancing. It allows everyday people to invest as little as $25 to help people in developing countries climb out of poverty. The concept of microfinancing is nothing new. At its essence, it's making small loans to the working poor. The loans are used to establish or expand small businesses to help families earn more money.”
The Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2008
Microlending for Microbankers
“The Web site run by KIVA (www.kiva.org) has attracted a lot of attention to microfinance in the past two years. Individuals could select a recipient and contribute $25 or more online. The money is typically repaid and could be lent again or taken out of the account.”
FOX News, March 17, 2008
On The Record with Greta Van Susteren
“PRESIDENT CLINTON: For as little as $25, you can actually go on this website, pick a, let's say, guy running a garage in Afghanistan, and contribute money, and you see the effect of your money.
Then they pay your money back, and when you get paid back, you can either turn around and loan it to someone else, or take it back.
VAN SUSTEREN: I've done that, actually, and it's fun.
CLINTON: It is fun, isn't it?
The Boston Globe, March 10, 2008
Tale of microloans urges kids to generosity
“With $10, for example, a child could download some iTunes or - through an online lending service like Kiva - potentially change a person's life...”
MarketWatch from Dow Jones, March 4, 2008
Five ways to give like an entrepreneur
“Circumvent the International Money Fund: With as little as $20, you can be a microlender.”
Fortune, March 3, 2008
The only nonprofit that matters
“The toast of Oprah, the Today show, and Bill Clinton's latest tome, Giving, Kiva is a way for First World lenders to link with developing-world entrepreneurs, be they Peruvian farmers, Afghan basket weavers, or even Ugandan liquor store owners. And if someone like Mukasa seems unlike the typical charity case, well, this is not the typical charity.”
Cosmopolitan, March 2008
The Giving Chronicles: Pay Pals
“While doing nonprofit work in East Africa, Jessica Jackley Flannery saw what a huge difference a small amount of money can make for poor entrepreneurs. That inspired her to cofound kiva.org, the first person-to-person microflending Website.”
PC World.ca, February 20, 2008
Next Gen Giving: Charity and Social Networks
“At Kiva.org, you can browse business profiles and photographs, find a borrower whose story interests or engages you, and then loan them a certain amount (it can be as little as $25, or it can be much more) though PayPal, which waives all Kiva.org transaction fees.”
USA Today, February 11, 2008
Valentine's Day gifts must be politically correct these days
“Also popular are gift certificates from Kiva (kiva.org), which lets consumers lend small sums to workers in developing countries. Elaine DiRico, a retired chef from Austin, bought a $50 card for her husband: "It's a way to create a caring community.”
CNET, February 8, 2008
Kiva humanizes microlending to third-world entrepreneurs
“Kiva, a peer-to-peer online microlending nonprofit organization, is changing the dynamics of microfinance by linking people who have money to loan up with entrepreneurs in developing countries who need some capital, all over the Internet. What is considered pocket change for many people in the United States can go a long way toward helping a struggling businessman get started in another part of the world.”
Financial Times, February 2, 2008
Satisfaction guaranteed by a little research
“Kiva.org helps donors connect with, and lend money to, entrepreneurs and small businesses in developing countries. By engaging in this sort of microfinance, donors hope to enable the working poor to move towards economic independence.”
Spirit, February 2008
The Knowledge: Jessica Flannery
“Giving a loan through Kiva makes a huge impact that can be difficult to quantify. Nearly all the entrepreneurs have been poor all their lives. But the loan communicates hope, and tells the entrepreneur that you, the lender, have faith in her.”
Business Record, January 26, 2008
Global Reach
“Mike Messina isn't an international banker, and he's certainly no Bill Gates, but that hasn't stopped him from financing small businesses on a global scale. In less than a year, Messina has loaned more than $2,000 of his savings, mostly $25 at a time, to 48 small businesses in two dozen countries through Kiva.org, a Web-based micro-lending organization.”
ABC 7, January 17, 2008
Nobel Prize winner inspires non-profit
“We live in the land of jumbo-mortgages and giant business loans. But in many places around the world, it doesn't take that kind of money to make a difference. A Bay Area non-profit is a case-in-point.” Watch the story here.
Financial Times, January 12, 2008
Charity no longer a cottage industry
“What is happening on kiva.org reflects three big trends in philanthropy. For a start, the activities of the website's users are global, with donors sending funds to far-off countries. Second, donors are looking for feedback on the impact of their donations. And third, technology is powering the transaction, facilitating the donation as well as providing information on the needs and the benefits of the funding.”
IBM Podcast, January 11, 2008
IBM and the Future of Microfinance
Jessica Flannery, Kiva.org Co-Founder, and Kevin Thompson, IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs Senior Program Manager, discuss the future of microfinance. Listen here.
Today Show, January 11, 2008
Loans that Change the World
NBC Correspondent John Larson: “I became a Kiva Lender about a year ago, so on a recent trip to Africa I checked out three Kiva borrowers I knew only by their photograph. I found this Masai tribeswoman, and this seed and grain merchant. All showed me how they were using their Kiva loans, he to buy inventory for his store and to rent land to farm, and she to buy cattle and buy more beads to make jewelery to sell to tourists.” Watch the show here.
Reuters, January 7, 2008
Oprah effect brings microlending to Main Street
“The credit crisis may be fouling up billion-dollar takeover deals, but if you're a poor African seamstress who needs a loan for a new sewing machine, you could not ask for a better borrowing market to expand your business. Anyone with $25 to spare and an Internet connection can now become an international microfinancier through Kiva, an organization that matches individual lenders with impoverished entrepreneurs in the developing world.”
The Sydney Morning Herald, January 1, 2008
Ten things that will change your future
“Kiva takes (the idea of peer-to-peer lending) and applies it to the established concept of microfinance - making small loans to the working poor to help them establish or expand businesses. So, instead of giving a donation to an organisation such as Oxfam to distribute, peer-to-peer lending lets you invest small amounts directly in a particular entrepreneur - such as Mohamad Marah in Kabala, Sierra Leone. With his $US200 loan, Marah has been able to expand his garment business, buying three extra sewing machines.”
Multilingual, January/February 2008
Changing the world one word at a time
“Helping low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries is an investment in the present and the future, and Kiva.org's volunteer translators play crucial roles in changing people's lives - only only on the presonal level, but also on the community and national levels.”
Herald News, December 31, 2007
Many using Web sites to find, help entrepreneurs around the world
“Unlike traditional charities, donors using sites like Kiva select who they want to help by browsing photos and stories posted online. Lenders track the recipients as they pay back the loan to a small microfinance bank in their home country.”
The Boston Globe, December 29, 2007
Change the world, one click at a time
“Kiva.org, founded in 2005, connects lenders with entrepreneurs in developing countries. Lenders are able to feel a personal connection with a project and can get progress updates from the borrowers, instead of feeling that they are giving money to a nameless institution.”
Marketplace Morning Report, December 25, 2007
Small Loans Appeal to Bootstrap Crowd
“Microloans have become a trend in international development circles... Typically, the giving is the domain of the U.N. But now, a growing number of websites are giving ordinary people the chance to get involved. Kiva.org was the first of these peer-to-peer microcredit websites to launch.”
National Post, December 19, 2007
Giving the gifts the keep on giving
“Endorsed by former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities, this new organization is now offering gift certificates, making it easy to leave that special someone a bit of socio-economic philanthropy under the tree along with all the PlayStations, cashmere sweaters and so on.”
Good Morning America, December 18, 2007
'Tis the Season for Giving
“Kiva.org is a groundbreaking Web site that allows one to lend money directly to aspiring entrepreneurs in developing countries... The system gives struggling entrepreneurs access to financial services that have not been available to them.”
Forbes, December 14, 2007
Give Like An Entrepreneur
“Kiva.org allows budding entrepreneurs in the developing world to solicit loans. They outline their needs, their plans to use the money and their ability to repay a loan.”
The United States Department of State USINFO, December 12, 2007
Web Site Lets People Offer Microloans to Borrowers Worldwide
“Kiva did not invent microfinance - the supply of loans, savings and other small-scale financial services to the poor - but its creation of an online marketplace for lenders and borrowers is innovative enough to have led to explosive growth of over 30 percent per month since the Web site's founding in 2005.”
CBC News: Sunday, December 9, 2007
The Gift of Charity
“Instead of buying someone another tie or pair of earrings, would you consider giving a holiday gift that could change the world?” Watch here.
Ode, December 2007
Think outside the bank
“Combine the principles of microfinance and online social networking, and you get a new phenomenon: peer-to-peer lending, or social lending as it's sometimes called. In the last two years, more than a dozen websites have been launched to connect borrowers and lenders - no banks required... One site, Kiva, is using the concept to fund no-interest loans in developing nations ”
The Economist, December 2007
Six of the best: Our selection of trend-spotters' tips for 2008
“'Peer-to-peer' lending is working its way into the charitable sector, too: Kiva.org puts potential 'social investors' in touch with small businesses in the developing world, which promise to send e-mail updates on how the business is developing.”
USA Today, December 11 2008
Green gifts: 'Oh, you shouldn't have - really!'
“Stephanie Preble, 37, a Seattle teacher, caterer and mother of three, says her family can live without Christmas wrapping paper. They also plan to donate to Kiva.org, the online loan-giving charity, but will still keep the traditional stocking-stuffers and gifts from Santa for the kids.”
Domino, December/January 2008
Antidote to Overload
“Microlending is one of the cleverest ways to give... At Kiva.org, a $25 gift card you purchase for a friend can then help a struggling business owner in a third-world country, like a candy-store owner in Ukraine who wants to expand inventory, or a vegetable vendor in Azerbaijan.”
NEED, December 2007
Generosity: Gifts that Give
“Ever thought of dabbling in a new business venture? Do you have $25 USD to laon to someone transitioning out of poverty? Kiva could be just the organization you are looking for.”
Common Ground, December 2007
More Love, Less Stuff
“By "sponsoring" a small businesses or individual in the developing world through Kiva (kiva.org), you can help the world's working poor make real progress towards economic independence.”
Business Nation, December 5, 2007
Kiva
“A look at how a network of small lenders, brought together by a remarkable website, is making a big difference in developing nations, one micro loan at a time.” Watch here.
Minnesota Public Radio, December 4, 2007
Where tiny loans make a big difference
“Kiva has received a lot of attention for the innovative way it allows people around the world to make loans. Everyday people can act as banks, and make a loan of as little as $25 over the Internet.” Listen here.
Forbes.com, November 14, 2007
Microfinance Movement
“Want to help start a small business in an emerging market from the comfort of your armchair? Well now you can, with Kiva.org.” Watch here.
Al Jazeera, November 8, 2007
Riz Khan
“Becoming a banker to the poor is a lot easier than you think. You can now help lift people out of poverty with... USD 25, thanks to a website that effectively targets the needy. Kiva.org is only 2 years old but in that short time it has made big waves in the world of microfinance.” Watch here.
Stanford Magazine, November/December 2007
Small Change, Big Payoff
“Like MySpace or Facebook, Kiva functions as a community, so you can browse through profiles of other lenders (complete with photos, hometowns, philosophies and portfolios) to see who's involved with what. The site's Journal section offers progress reports on the entrepreneurs (and their repayments) as well as recommendations. Then you can pick a business to help finance.”
CBS News, October 31, 2007
Fight Poverty With Online Microlending
“You've heard the story - "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, give him a fishing rod and he eats for life." In this business model, you lend him money to buy the fishing rod so that he can fish, sell his fish, hire an apprentice and repay the loan.”
Smithsonian Magazine, October 2007
37 Under 36: America's Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences.
I, Lender
“Kiva operates on a people-to-people model, allowing private individuals to make loans to borrowers seeking to establish small businesses in developing countries.”
African Path, October 15, 2007
Microfinance: Kiva unlocks the golden pot with a click
“Kiva is like a feel good story where everyone wins: the lender, the borrower and Kiva's partners. There is room for expansion and a few more smiles for entrepreneurs in developing countries.”
Hartford Courant, October 4, 2007
Tiny Business Loans Pay Big Emotional Return
“A nonprofit based in San Francisco, Kiva has not yet celebrated its two-year anniversary and is already attracting international attention for its unique mission - blending the principles of microfinancing with the power of online social networking to deliver business loans to the world's working poor.”
San Francsico Chronicle, September 30, 2007
Microcredit movement tackling poverty one tiny loan at a time
“Kiva.org, praised by Clinton in his new book, is the first organization to take microcredit online and link lenders and borrowers. People who want to make loans - the minimum is $25 - choose recipients on the Web site and use their credit cards and PayPal.”
Sydney Morning Herald, September 29, 2007
Harnessing the power of the net to support Third World businesses
“Last month I became a financier, or, to be more specific, a microfinancier. I lent $50 to Saitia Teropika in Samoa. I've never been to Samoa or met Teropika, but I know she's 37 years old and has nine children. I know the money is to help her buy seeds and pesticides to expand her market garden. I know all this because of an innovative organisation called Kiva, which supports charity in the form of zero-interest business loans. It does this by using a website to link people in the First World to people in the Third.”
The Wall Street Journal Online, September 23, 2007
Help Impoverished Entrepreneurs With Loans
“While Americans gave record sums to charity last year, some are finding that loaning their money can be altruistic as well... The basic idea is to make small, short-term "microloans" to impoverished entrepreneurs who don't otherwise have access to capital -- helping improve their businesses and therefore their lives.”
NHK, September 8, 2007
Let's save Uganda with 25 dollars per loan: A new Loan Business challenging poverty
“'Kiva' is a social venture which supports people in developing nations with a common citizen's 25 dollars per loan... Already they have collected 10 million dollars and loaned to more than 30 nations in the world. Uganda is where the Flannerys started this loan, and now more than 500 people have received loans, creating businesses such as peanut butter retail, taxi driver, etc.”
Morning Edition, September 7, 2007
President Clinton speaks about Kiva.org as a way that people can give:
“With Kiva you can make a small business loan of as little as $25, to a business man or a woman whom you select on the Kiva website. It will be delivered through a local non-governmental organization that can be trusted to monitor the progress of the business and make sure the money gets paid back. They have an enormous repayment rate, and then when you see what your loan did, when it's repaid, you can either turn around and loan the money to a new Kiva recipient or you can take your money back.” Listen here
The Oprah Winfrey Show, September 4, 2007
Make a Difference
“'A revolutionary idea has made it possible for anyone to help people in Third World countries via the Internet - and it can be addictive! Visitors to Kiva.org can read the story of someone who needs help starting a small business. For as little as $25, they can choose a loan to partially finance - and help lift someone out of poverty in the process.”
Today Show, September 3, 2007
Changing the world one loan at a time
“' Kiva has re-invented lending in the 21st century. Anyone with at least $25 can log on to the site, browse the profiles of entrepreneurs in third-world countries and choose which cause to support.” Watch the show here.
PC Magazine, August 27, 2007
Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites
“Want to sink your cash into something more rewarding than an Apple iPhone? Put that $600 to work helping those less fortunate with Kiva, the site that lets you easily make small loans to deserving entrepreneurs worldwide.”
The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2007
A New Generation Reinvents Philanthropy
“' You can donate money to a charity, but it seems like it just goes into a pile and you never know what really goes on there,' says Mr. Alamo, the Kiva lender. 'With Kiva, you just pick someone out and lend to them directly and watch what they do and how they succeed. That was the main appeal.' Kiva, which started in the fall of 2005, has already drawn more than 89,600 lenders who have lent $10 million.”
Yahoo! News, August 21, 2007
The $10 Million Giveaway?
“In their office in San Francisco's Mission District, Matt and Jessica Flannery and Premal Shah work with the fervor and techno savvy of an Internet startup aiming for an IPO. But they aren't chasing the cash for themselves. They're doing it for Esther Egbulu in Nigeria, a mother of six who wants an $800 loan to stock her shop with frozen chickens and turkey...”
Kiplinger's Finance, August 2007
Fight Poverty With Micro Loans
“You don't have to be rich to be a venture capitalist. For as little as $25, you can provide seed capital to a fledgling baker in Azerbaijan or fund a home-products wholesaler in Ecuador.”
MSN Money, July 25, 2007
7 ways to buy happiness
“Kiva then pools these microloans so that specific individuals -- you can read their profiles on the Kiva Web site -- can accomplish their goals..”
The Seattle Times, June 22, 2007
Banking on Bulgaria's Gypsy businesses
“Through Kiva, we made interest-free loans of $25 each to Diana and to Silvia and Todor whose pictures, bios and business plans were posted on the nonprofit's Web site. Then on a recent trip to Bulgaria, we veered off the tourist route to visit our new partners and see how business was going.”
Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, June 19, 2007
Kiva - Life Changing Loans
“Direct and straightforward lending to individuals in developing countries is here... You don't have to be a Bill Gates to drastically change people's lives anymore.” Listen here.
Marketplace Money, June 8, 2007
Give to Global Entrepreneurship
“Normally, microfinancing happens on a larger scale. Banks and other financial outfits lend small amounts of money to people who are too poor to get a traditional loan. Usually, in the developing world. But several organizations - like Kiva.org - now allow you to become a microlender... New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently wrote about some loans that he's made. So we invited him to talk about the experience.” Listen here.
ABC World News Tonight, June 5, 2007
Peace Through PayPal?
“In Kirkuk, a city in northern Iraq that wavers between war and unsteady peace, a woman named Khadeja runs a beauty shop in the poorest section of town. She needs $1,200 to keep her business going -- a business that supports her parents and disabled brother. In Los Gatos, Calif., a real estate broker named Debby Bright is giving her a loan. Separated by roughly 7,000 miles, Bright and Khadeja connected through Kiva, an online lending network which recently added Iraqis to its list of entrepreneurs in poor countries who are looking to build up a business.” Watch the program here
CNN, May 24, 2007
CNN Heroes: Community Crusaders
“Kiva -- which means "unity" in Swahili -- allows individuals to make loans as small as $25 to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Since Kiva.org was launched more than two years ago, it has brokered more than $6.5 million in collateral-free loans to more than 9,000 businesses.” Watch here.
BBC Click, May 4, 2007
Social lending gains net interest
“The social lending site Kiva allows lenders to give to a specific entrepreneur in a poor or developing world country... This sort of scheme is generally called Microfinance. It is not new, but the web's ability to allow anyone to become a banker to the world's poor certainly is.” Watch the program here
World Vision Report, April 15, 2007
Direct Loans to Fight Poverty
“It's now possible for someone in the United States to make a small mini-loan directly to a person in need overseas. Just go to www.kiva.org, select a recipient, and make the loan. Virginia builder Tom Hutchinson did that. Host Peggy Wehmeyer hooked up Hutchison and the woman in Uganda who received his $50 loan for a meeting on the phone.”Listen here
Houston Chronicle, April 14, 2007
Anyone can lend a hand via Web
“More than 3,000 institutions around the world offer small, collateral-free "microcredit" loans to more than 113 million poor people. But Kiva, which boasts more than 54,000 lenders, is different in that it allows individuals in wealthy countries to lend directly — in amounts as little as $25 — to individuals in poorer ones.”
ABC 7 News, April 13, 2007
Local Website Helps Third World Countries Do Business
“A Bay Area nonprofit is changing lives in towns and villages half a world away. Kiva.org lets anyone with just a little bit of money be a banker to the poor.” Watch here
Forum, April 6, 2007
Microfinance and Social Justice Philanthropy
“Kiva just shows how compelling this idea can be and why micro-finance has been such a success as a policy initiative. It taps into the belief of many people who want to find ways to make a positive change in poor countries, poor regions, and shows how you can do it effectively.”
TIME, April 05, 2007
Lending a hand
“When Melecio Penafiel wanted to expand his tailoring shop in Guayaquil, Ecuador, last May, he didn't go to the bank or ask his relatives for help. His seed money arrived via the Internet. Using the website Kiva.org a Bay Area software engineer named Nathan Folkert lent Penafiel the $500 he needed to buy two new sewing machines, fabrics and thread for higher-quality suits. Folkert has never met Penafiel but says making the loan "felt like I was giving him a shot at the American Dream.”
San Jose Mercury News, March 16, 2007
Kiva spreads Valley wealth globally
“If you haven't yet heard of Kiva.org, a San Francisco non-profit that at just 18 months old is already the leading online microcredit site, you're about to...It's a remarkably simple system that highlights the power of online communities. Yet just as remarkable is how adeptly Kiva has harnessed the collective power of the Silicon Valley tech community.”
Slate, March 15, 2007
A Good Run for Your Money
Jude Stewart rates Kiva.org highest of six microlending websites.
“Finally: microlending as I'd imagined it...Kiva combines online community with microlending in a way that's truly exciting. It's remarkably compelling to see your borrower face to face - you can even contact them via their local lender rep.”
Foreign Policy, March/April 2007
Reach Out and Lend
”Don't let the fact that Kiva.org looks like Match.com fool you. It's a serious enterprise that enables person-to-person microlending from folks living in rich countries to entrepreneurs in the developing world.”
Newsweek, February 19, 2007
Microlending Do It Online
“Kiva.org is perhaps the leader in the field of microcredit online.”
Computerworld, January 29, 2007
Click and change the world: Microfinance for the masses
“Kiva, a San Francisco-based start-up, is using technology to connect small-stakes lenders around the world with impoverished entrepreneurs in developing countries - a feat that's helping to change the nature of microfinancing and global giving itself.”
Current TV, January 7, 2007
EBay for Do-Gooders
“Leveraging the Internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions (MFIs), Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help fund small businesses run by low-income entrepreneurs around the world.”
All Things Considered, December 23, 2006.
Young Donors Turn to Micro Loans
"If you've got even $25 to lend, you can point and click and become part of a global village promoting sustainable development." Listen Now.
BusinessWeek Small Biz, Winter 2006
A Tale of Two Lenders
“Kiva works only with entrepreneurs, which it finds with the help of microfinance institutions in developing countries. Those partners bring their clients to Kiva instead of to a local bank.”
The Seattle Times, December 18, 2006.
A web of giving
"Philanthropy used to be balls and receptions catering to high net-worth individuals... I think there's something democratizing if you can bring technology into it and let the average person be like a Bill Gates or a Rockefeller."
Frontline/World, October 31, 2006.
Uganda: A Little Goes A Long Way
Show synopsis: "A San Francisco company has taken the idea of microfinance and upgraded it for the Web. Radio reporter Clark Boyd... travels to Uganda for FRONTLINE/World, where the first recipients of money collected through Kiva's Web site are building and expanding businesses."Watch the video here.
The Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2006.
Small Loans, Good Intentions: Web Sites to Help You Act Like the Nobel Peace Prize Winner
"You, too, can have a big impact with a small amount of money."
ReadyMade, October/November, 2006.
A Little Largesse Goes A Long Way
"Becoming a junior phiolanthropist is simple: select from a list of profiled small busiensses in countries such as Ecuador and Uganda, choose any loan amount (as low as $25), and send it via PayPal...If only the Rockefellers had it this easy."
Good Magazine, Sept/Oct 2006.
D.I.Y. Venture Capitalists
"Would-be investors log on to Kiva, scan through profiles of low-income entrepreneurs-say, a man who wants to open a ashoe shop in Honduras or a goat farmer in Uganda - and shell out as litte as $25, via PayPal, to the recipient of their choice...the money provided through Kiva is a vital influx of capital for fledgling businesses around the world."
BusinessWeek Online, August 16, 2006.
Making Microfinance Easier
"New Kiva board member Reid Hoffman, CEO and co-founder of LinkedIn, says Kiva's got the right mix of elements to help it grow. Hoffman says he sees the same potential in Kiva that he saw in LinkedIn. "This has all the characteristics that could get into the hundreds of thousands or millions of users," he says."
The Nilson Report, August, 2006.
Peer-to-Peer Lending
"Kiva.org is the only not-for-profit peer-to-peer lender. It connects lenders in 30 developed markets with low-income entrepreneurs in 11 developing countries who need loans for their small businesses."
BusinessWeek, July 31, 2006.
A Little Money Goes A Long Way: Using the power of social networking to help small businesses around the world
"Friends and neighbors have been lending one another money forever, but as the Web makes virtual neighbors of strangers, Kiva, which is Swahili for 'agreement' or 'unity,' is harnessing the power of social networking to support microenterprise in the developing world."
ABC News, July 27, 2006.
Giving from the U.S. to Uganda
"A woman in East Africa is looking for a loan to try and buy some livestock - keep in mind that these steer are her family's livelihood and they could mean the difference between survival and severe poverty - but thanks to the internet and (Kiva) people from as far away as Europe, Asia and even the United States can all give toward her success in Kenya."
The Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2006.
Want to Bid on a Loan?
"Kiva.org... allows consumers to lend money to entrepreneurs and small businesses in developing countries."
NPR, July 17, 2006.
Is Microfinance Changing the World?
Click here to listen to KUOW's Weekday program as broadcast on NPR featuring Matt Flannery (CEO, Kiva.org), Alex Counts (President and CEO of Grameen Foundation USA) and Raj Shah (Director for Financial Services and Agriculture with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).
BusinessWeek Online, July 11, 2006.
An eBay for Microfinance
Click here to listen to BusinessWeek Online's podcast featuring Kiva as Innovation of the Week.
Entrepreneur, May 2006
Lend a Hand
"An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full."
BBC News, March 1, 2006.
Online loans help world's poor
"...revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries." Click here to listen to this story as broadcast on PRI's "The World", February 15, 2006.
CNN Money, January 17, 2006.
Be a global financier... on a shoestring
"If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier."
The Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2006.
A New Way to Do Well By Doing Good
"Smaller investors can also make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva."
The Village Voice, November 23, 2005.
Bigger Brother
"Kiva simply democratizes access to a worldwide microfinance movement that has been empowering the working poor for two decades."
Help fund startups around the world
I love this website i just found online. Keva.org
You can sponsor small business start ups from around the world. You make small loans to help them with their business, repair their homes, send their children to school or whatever it is they need.
This is teach a man how to fish and help him get the boat and the classes and pay you back once he is on his feet...
;)
http://www.kiva.org/lender/megastarmedia
You can sponsor small business start ups from around the world. You make small loans to help them with their business, repair their homes, send their children to school or whatever it is they need.
This is teach a man how to fish and help him get the boat and the classes and pay you back once he is on his feet...
;)
http://www.kiva.org/lender/megastarmedia
Monday, May 26, 2008
Mega Star Media INC
Megastarmedia.com Sandy Rowley
Megastarmedia.com is a premier web design company specializing in custom web design. Our owner and CEO is none other than Sandy Rowley. Sandy has more than ten years experience in web design and customer satisfaction. Designs by megastarmedia.com are creative, unique and more over, the best search engine optimized creations in the business today. Megastarmedia.com has won webby awards for outstanding designs and will create a site you can be proud of. Our unique vision is shown in every site we design. Megastarmedia.com is located in the great state of Nevada but we have no city, state or country limits. We can design a site for you anywhere in the world! Sandy Rowley has created web sites for Fortune 500 companies, celebrities and even multimillion dollar recording studios. Our design business has created more than 1100 unique websites and is growing rapidly almost daily. When you decide to start your website business, more than just finding a catchy name goes into the process. There are things you must do to your site so that it is not just another site in the millions of websites launched each day. Search engines principles must apply to ensure you have placement in the rankings once your site is live. Sandy Rowley is not only a creative web developer; she also understands the depth that a website must have in order to work properly, seo wise. Please allow megastarmedia.com and Sandy Rowley to send you a complimentary quote today.
Megastarmedia.com is a premier web design company specializing in custom web design. Our owner and CEO is none other than Sandy Rowley. Sandy has more than ten years experience in web design and customer satisfaction. Designs by megastarmedia.com are creative, unique and more over, the best search engine optimized creations in the business today. Megastarmedia.com has won webby awards for outstanding designs and will create a site you can be proud of. Our unique vision is shown in every site we design. Megastarmedia.com is located in the great state of Nevada but we have no city, state or country limits. We can design a site for you anywhere in the world! Sandy Rowley has created web sites for Fortune 500 companies, celebrities and even multimillion dollar recording studios. Our design business has created more than 1100 unique websites and is growing rapidly almost daily. When you decide to start your website business, more than just finding a catchy name goes into the process. There are things you must do to your site so that it is not just another site in the millions of websites launched each day. Search engines principles must apply to ensure you have placement in the rankings once your site is live. Sandy Rowley is not only a creative web developer; she also understands the depth that a website must have in order to work properly, seo wise. Please allow megastarmedia.com and Sandy Rowley to send you a complimentary quote today.
Sandy Rowley
Sandy Rowley, lead art director with Sandy Rowley has been designing online communities for over twenty years.
www.zap5.com EVOLVE Agency Best SEO in the world.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/best-seo-expert-world-sandy-rowley?trk=pulse-article_more-articles_related-content-card
Who is the best SEO Expert in the World?
If you’re looking for the best SEO expert in the world, then look no further. This person is an expert in everything from on-page optimization to link building to keyword research. This expert is also well-versed in the latest trends and algorithm changes, so you can rest assured that your website is in good hands. Contact this person today to get started on your SEO journey!
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SEO is the process of optimizing a website for Google search with the goal of earning higher web traffic levels and improving the visibility of the site.
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There are a lot of experts out there who claim to be the best SEO expert in the world. But how do you know who is the best? Here are some things to look for when choosing an SEO expert:
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How to Find the Right Expert for You
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best SEO expert for you will depend on your individual needs and objectives. However, there are some general tips you can follow to help you find the right expert for your business:
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