Gandhi said, be the change you want to see in this world.
This quote has always inspired me, and I'd love the idea of microfinance, so what better
opportunity for an entrepreneur like me than to go to Africa and help small business owners
get microloans?
There's no better way to see first hand if microfinance really works.
Does it create jobs?
How can everyday people like me help to create these jobs?
So I'm here with Kiva, and if you don't know what Kiva is, it's this amazing non-profit
website that is actually one of the fastest growing non-profits in the world, and it enables
social investors around the world to lend money directly to small business entrepreneurs
in the developing world.
Kiva is the world's first person-to-person lending site, connecting everyday people around
the globe with business loans as small as $25.
Now that's microfinance.
So you know how when you're on vacation and someone comes up to you and says, hey, give
me a dollar, and you're uncomfortable doing so, at least I certainly am.
Imagine if that same person came to you and said, hey, could you please lend me $25 or
$50 so I can build my business, and then I'll pay you back in three to six months, that
same $25 or $50.
Of course you would, and that's exactly what Kiva has built.
Kiva's innovative approach attracts people who like to connect online.
Bibi Jinalot, a successful San Francisco entrepreneur, enjoys supporting fellow entrepreneurs in
the developing world.
It's kind of like online dating for social entrepreneurism, because you can go online
and you can read about all the entrepreneurs that are seeking funding, and you can find
one that actually fits perfectly with what you want to support.
For me, as a business owner around food, I love supporting food-oriented businesses in
other countries.
Since it began, Kiva's half million lenders funded 90 million in loans and created 250,000
jobs.
I've heard how successful Kiva is at raising the funds, but do the loans actually help
people?
To find out, I joined Kiva's fellowship program and spent the summer in Liberia to see for
myself if microfinance really works.
So Ben from Kiva called me and asked if I'd be willing to move to Liberia because no one
else would come here.
It's a disturbingly poor, dangerous place as it emerges from 20 years of civil war.
It was clear to me that Liberia would be the ultimate test.
Liberia is one of the world's poorest countries.
It is emerging from decades of civil war, and it struggles with 85% unemployment.
I work with LEAP, a Liberian Economic Assistance Program, Kiva's banking partner here.
Kiva relies on local microfinance organizations like LEAP to find the entrepreneurs, train
them, and manage the loans.
Over the following two months, I met hundreds of Kiva borrowers to truly understand how these
loans impact their lives.
Thank you.
Oh my God, I'm operating, selling a shoe, men's shoes.
They come from Guinea.
They come from Guinea?
Yes.
I sell suitcases.
I sell it to customers who want to buy and travel.
I sell clothing and feedware.
You know, I sell my business.
Fish.
I sell dragoons, and I sell it in business 20 years ago.
My name is Dave.
Probably nice to meet you.
What is your business?
And I'll be honest with you, some of them I know will fail.
Like businessmen in the United States, they're going to fail.
Microfinance benefits every recipient, but some borrowers experience incredible success,
such as Markebe, a former displaced war refugee and mother of seven.
Markebe's business is palm tree oil, used for everything from cooking to soap production.
Her business is enormously successful, and she employs a full-time staff.
However, a few years ago, Markebe wasn't so optimistic.
Wanting to run her own business, but not knowing how to get started, Markebe turned
to microfinance.
She used her first $50 loan to buy one jug of palm oil, and her retail business took
off from there.
She understands how to take a $50 loan and turn it into an oil conglomerate that's shipping
a container of 1,200 gallons to a palm oil to be sold in the United States.
I feel very, very proud and happy I gave the poor a to go, because I'm happy.
I never used to sleep, but now I've got a generator, and I sleep comfortably.
And microfinance is more than just loans.
It's total business training that will help them long after the loans are paid back.
They even told me how to save money for myself.
I was able to go to my account to get some money there, so they told me not only giving
me money, but how to empower me to run.
So I think I'm a role model, and a proud Librarian woman.
Markebe is a role model in her community, but more importantly, she is inspiring her
family.
Her daughter, Wida, is now a Kiva borrower and an accounting student at the University
of Liberia.
I want to follow my mother's footsteps, how in my dream I want to be a big business woman.
Successful entrepreneurs, including Markebe's daughter, Wida, look forward to sharing their
amazing stories with the staff who help make the Kiva loans possible.
I want to share a little testimony of my mother and myself to you all, but I want to be very
grateful to go twice and second to my mom, because she taught me when you borrow, you
should learn to return.
After that, I was able to build my warehouse, where I would bring in 150 beacons of coal.
I got two children, my mother don't pay my school fee, don't pay my children's school
fee, I pay their school fees, live, how to empower my mother and how to empower me to
be able to do things for myself, I guess.
Markebe and Wida are prime examples of how Kiva's benefits transcend generations, and
all through the support of Kiva lenders with loans as small as $25.
So what did I learn from my summer in Liberia?
That microfinance works and benefits all the recipients.
But for some entrepreneurs like Markebe and her daughter, microfinance loans are truly
life-changing.
They remind me so much of Czech startup people in Silicon Valley where I live, and they do
the impossible because they have the indomitable spirit to succeed, that's what I love.
With a 98% repayment rate and the potential to change someone's life, why wouldn't everyone
join Kiva?
To get started and connect with entrepreneurs around the world, go to kiva.org.
To be the change you want to see in the world, come be a Kiva Fellow.
