It was a sunny Tuesday here in Ecuador and the loan officers and I were headed to go meet with a Kiva borrower to discuss how her business of raising chickens was doing. Along the way, my stomach began to growl. I expressed to the loan officers that I was hungry and they asked me what I wanted to eat. I told them that I wanted to try more of the local food in Ecuador. They immediately smiled and said had the same idea -... Continue Reading >>
Stories tagged with Microcredit
It was a sunny Tuesday here in Ecuador and the loan officers and I were headed to go meet with a Kiva borrower to discuss how her business of raising chickens was doing. Along the way, my stomach began to growl. I expressed to the loan officers that I was hungry and they asked me what I wanted to eat. I told them that I wanted to try more of the local food in Ecuador. They immediately smiled and said had the same idea -... Continue Reading >>
Mural outside Tecnosol's office in Managua, Nicaragua
There is a high demand for renewable energy products in Nicaragua, especially among remote populations that are unreached by the country’s electric infrastructure. Despite the need, however, Nicaragua’s vast... Continue Reading >>
Imagine instead of dollars you were lending corn cobs, in return you would get ceramic pots or miniatures for your kids, no repayment schedule. Maybe a headache for Kiva and Paypal, or maybe not, since Kiva’s talented people will never cease to surprise us. The challenge is on!
Throughout Andean towns, villages and communities, el trueque does the trick - a system of exchange by which goods are directly traded for other goods without using a medium of exchange, such as money. El... Continue Reading >>
Here in Mongolia, my top priority with XacBank has been to complete borrower verifications (BVs)—visits to 10 randomly selected Kiva clients to ensure that everything in the field checks out with the information reported to Kiva’s San Francisco headquarters. As it happened, the borrowers in my sample were...
Continue Reading >>The purpose of my adventure was to meet with multiple... Continue Reading >>
When I started my fellowship in Managua I was advised by many people to find a trusted taxi driver. Although much of the crime in the city is non-violent, petty-theft and street crime is frequent – especially when getting from point A to point B.
So, I asked around, and after trying about 15 numbers without any luck I finally came across a driver by the name of Jesús. For the past four weeks Jesús has taken me to and from work, and it’s been a blast getting to know him. He always has a smile on his face, has a great... Continue Reading >>
I recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with a grandmother named Angelita. She has been using micro-finance for the last 15 years. I thought she would have some interesting things to say about micro finance.
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For a moment, think about what you do in a normal, everyday, 24-hour time period. Take a second; no rush.
Got it? Now imagine it without electricity.
I’m guessing a significant portion of your everyday activities would suddenly become impossible, extremely less efficient, or flat-out uncomfortable. Sure, you could probably go without some of the not-so-necessary first... Continue Reading >>
It never ceases to amaze me how you can connect with people who are completely different from you. Maybe you don’t speak the same first language. Maybe you grew up on opposite sides of the world, or you were born in different decades. But somehow, despite all your differences—and perhaps against all odds—you find commonalities. And what’s more, sometimes you realize that below the surface, maybe you’re not actually all...
Continue Reading >>A road trip with FUNDECOCA
It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since I arrived in San Carlos and started working at my second MFI. FUNDECOCA is one of Kiva’s newest partners… and they are really excited about working with Kiva!
My fellowship here started off with a bang as I was whisked off on day trips to visit some of FUNDECOCA’s credit communities. FUNDECOCA offers loans to 53 communities...
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