The official village leader, or headman, is the point of contact for the whole village. The sales team generally contacts him the night before an event to ask about the clean water status of the village. If... Continue Reading >>
Stories tagged with Innovation
The official village leader, or headman, is the point of contact for the whole village. The sales team generally contacts him the night before an event to ask about the clean water status of the village. If... Continue Reading >>
What has made Kiva’s platform so compelling and successful is the power... Continue Reading >>
At first pass, Germany doesn’t seem like a country that would fit with Kiva’s non-profit microfinance orientation and mission statement. Yet, in Frankfurt, one of the world’s prominent financial centres, an innovative start-up and recent Kiva Field Partner, Yunus Social Business (“YSB”), is pushing the envelope of social business investing,... Continue Reading >>
In light of this, numerous clean-energy organizations have stepped up to tackle this problem... Continue Reading >>
By Irene Fung | KF19 | India
Water and Sanitation may not be the first issue that people associate with Kiva. Entrepreneurs scoop up most of the headlines in micro-finance, but when it comes to alleviating poverty, other less publicized loan products are equally important. In fact, Kiva is committed to increasing peoples’ access to financial services to facilitate the development of water and sanitation, a key development challenge.
India has felt this challenge acutely with 67% of the rural households lacking any access to sanitation facilities. In Odisha, India...
Continue Reading >>Laura Sellmansberger | KF19 | Uganda
Kiva recognizes the unique power of the interest-free capital it provides through its lenders. The zero-interest aspect of Kiva’s loans enables its partners to act boldly and to try new things, to go the extra mile to reach new groups of people, and to fund loans that Kiva characterizes as highly catalytic. Kiva uses the term ...
Continue Reading >>Diana Biggs | KF 18 | Burkina Faso
I’d like to think the title of this post sums up my experience in Burkina Faso – perhaps even both professional and personally. I’ll focus on the former here and try to take you through my journey.
Expectations: As a Kiva Fellow, it’s likely you’re a Type A (if on the quirky end), dedicated, well-traveled, highly educated young person, perhaps an experienced professional looking to Pivot (see Patrick’s post for more on that) or mid-studies in a Masters program. Whilst...
Continue Reading >>He is named Global Young Leader by the World Economic Forum and is on the Forbes 40 under 40 list.
It is easy to become impressed, maybe intimidated by a person that holds such accolades. But Premal Shah, president of Kiva, is the last person to become intimidated by. However, impressed? Yes, highly. And he was coming my way to Nicaragua.
The only time I...
Continue Reading >>Varick Schwartz | KF18 | Kenya
When I applied to the Kiva Fellows program, I knew I’d be spending some time ‘in...