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‘I'd love to teach a man to fish.’ In other words, if you give a man a fish, it solves the problem for one day, but if you teach a man to fish, it solves the problem for a lifetime. What we argue at Kiva is that most of the working poor today actually know how to fish. They just need a little seed capital to buy a boat and a net. With that, they could actually start earning income for their families. And then they could start paying for their children's education, paying for their own health expenditures and basically just creating a sustainable livelihood for themselves. So, it's access to credit that's important.- Premal Shah, President of Kiva.org

Understanding Kiva

Lender Entrepreneur

Understanding Kiva

Leveraging partnerships to spread the word

Market Kiva through partnerships with key online advertising and social networking websites

Google, YouTube, Yahoo!, MySpace, Facebook

Kiva spreads mission through networking communities, blogs, word of mouth, and merchandising (Kivapedia, KivaFriends, Oprah)

I think Kiva is a totally unnecessary organization that exists to please the people who are participating and isn't making any real difference.

-Thomas Dichter, former U.N. and World Bank microfinance consultant

Kiva has critics

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses•Frees entrepreneurs from monopolies of local money lenders who can charge interest of up to 300%/year•Addresses the most damaging charges against microfinance by allowing MFI’s to lower interest rates… thanks to kiva’s lower cost of capital (2% vs. industry 12%)

•No new job generation… one bank loan vs. a regular paycheck•Borrowers alone better off, not entire countries•Misses the middle•Bias when choosing who to fund

Opportunities Threats•Flood of hype… including media attention and endorsements•Website/business framework easily altered•Target small to medium sized enterprises that attract investors not loaners

•Questions/criticism surrounding all of microfinance

An integrated approach to poverty elimination: Kiva and BRAC Sudan

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,0000.00%

50.00%

100.00%

150.00%

200.00%

250.00%

Number of active borrowers

Ope

ratio

nal s

elf-s

uffic

ienc

y Kiva partners with smaller MFIs that don’t have access to low-cost capital

• Bubble size indicates gross loan portfolio• Yellow bubble represents median level for all non-Kiva MFIs

Kiva has helped BRAC

  12/31/06 6/30/071 year % 

Improvement

Gross loan portfolio 471,732 2,332,375 394%Total assets 1,691,867 3,814,465 125%Operational self-sufficiency 21.65% 75.65% 249%Profit margin -361.81% -32.19% -91%

Number of active borrowers 5,808 19,507 236%Average loan balance 81 120 48%

Why is Kiva great for Sudan?

• Bypasses the unreliable Sudanese government

• Helps raise and distribute capital to those who need it most

• Raises awareness

Kiva bypasses an unreliable Sudanese government

Kiva gives the neglected majority access to capital

80%

7%13%

Labor Force31%

36%

33%

Percent of GDP

Kiva raises awareness and connects Sudan with the rest of the world

So what else can you do with $50?

Naomi Mensah's Kiva Website

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Questions?