Kiva.org is an innovative non-profit organization that takes entrepreneurs from some of the most poverty-stricken areas of the world and essentially gives them the capital to start their own business.  Kiva uses their website as a marketing tool, a weblog, and a means by which members can monitor how much money they’ve lent and to [...]

Kiva is a website where entrepreneurs post their business ideas in hopes of getting an investor in the company.  There are entrepreneurs all over world seeking money to help start up their businesses. Kiva is based on the generosity of people and it promotes dignity, responsibility, and transparency. Kiva has generated over $100 million in [...]

The concept of micro-finance has been around since the 1970’s but it didn’t take off until recently when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Professor Muhammad Yunus who worked to build up a micro-credit system in Bangladesh. Micro-finance’s success is linked to the soundness of its business model. Unlike most charities which lack focused [...]

Kiva.org is a relatively small non-profit company with huge plans for the world. The San Francisco based organization posted to their website that they have lent over $125 Million to over 300,000 entrepreneurs around the world. These are rather impressive numbers when you consider they are non-profit and have been around for a little less than 5 [...]

I had never heard of Kiva until last week, but in checking it out a little it seems to connect people and create a community like we have discussed in class in a big way.  Besides the obvious of lenders connecting with poor entrepreneurs, Kiva has other little ways of connecting people with people.  There [...]

The Father of microfinance, Muhammed Yunus, has a bone to pick with kiva.org, one of the biggest players in the microfinance industry.    In Yunus’ new book “Creating a World Without Poverty”  he argues that microfinance institutions should be penalized if they charge more than 15% above their long term operating costs. To counter, Kiva says [...]

Similar idea as Grameen Bank,  Kiva is a microfinancing firm that lends small amount of money to the entrepreneurs in the poor countries. Since Japanese cultural background  does not seem like to be understanding the concept of investing their money like a business and helping others at the same time, in which process people think just giving [...]

The husband and wife duo of Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley are great examples entrepreneurs with a passion. After a trip to Kenya, they wanted to come up with a way to better help struggling entrepreneurs in developing countries, so they came up with the idea of Kiva. At first their business plan was pretty straight [...]

Kiva.org, a “peer-to-peer online microlending nonprofit organization,” is successful largely because of the organization’s ability to humanize the lending experience.  Kiva’s Field Partners lend to and profile aspiring entrepreneurs, including photographs and stories in the entrepreneur’s profile.  Lenders, members of the general public, browse Kiva, select an entrepreneur’s profile, and lend funds via PayPal or [...]

If you are interested in entrepreneurship of any sort I urge you to check out kiva. Kiva is a place where people can get on the world wide web and help to fund the dreams of entrepreneurs from all over the globe. With a donation (repaid by entrepreneur) as low as 25 dollars, donors are [...]