Microfinance - 5 ways to spread the word

1) Tell your friends - (in a casual way, not preachy)

2) Include your blog or a link to a microfinance organization like Grameen Foundation or Kiva in your email signature.

3) Send an e-card on special occasions, like the Grameen Foundation ecard for Mother’s Day.

4) Make a Kiva.org loan to honor or remember a friend or family member.

5) Write about microfinance on your blog

Kiva.org - My MicroEntrepreneurs Paid Off the Loan… No Surprise

My portfolio of micro-entrepreneurs came through again. I had two entrepreneurs just repay my loan. I’ll need to look for some other people to loan to on Kiva.org.

It is one thing to read about 97% or 99% payback rates in articles. It is another thing to witness firsthand that 100% of your borrowers have paid back every single payment, week after week after week. Personally experiencing repayment makes you feel part of the “success” as that person’s business must be doing well to repay the loan. And now, you have money to loan the next person.

Microfinance has a supportive culture where borrowers encourage each other to overcome sickness and setbacks. This mutual support and positive “peer pressure” achieves very high payback rates.

As Nobel Prize Winner, Muhammad Yunus, noted, there is a sub-prime crisis in the US, but micro-entrepreneurs are faithfully making their repayments at about 99%. That default rate of about 1% or less, contrasts sharply with the US mortgage default rates of 2.7% for prime, 5%+ for alt-A and 16%+ for sub-prime.

My Kiva.org Friends

Kiva.org is an innovative way to loan money to micro-entrepreneurs around the world. You can make payments to individual entrepreneurs and then are paid back. [Kiva has local partners who disburse funds, so your resources may be pooled, but it is still cool to feel a connection to the micro-entrepreneurs.]

Loans are as little as $25, so start today! Kiva.org

Check out my Kiva.org portfolio:

Jane Iyoha Retail, Nigeria Paid Back 100% repaid

Juan Alberto Gonzalez Construction Supplies, Paraguay Paying Back 67% repaid

Penina Lam Chung Agriculture, Samoa Paying Back 39% repaid

Mahmadusuf Soliev Clothing Sales, Tajikistan Paid Back 100% repaid

Amelia Sánchez Food Production/Sales, Ecuador Paying Back 76% repaid

Suleyman Valiyev Animal Sales, Azerbaijan Paying Back 47% repaid

Elena Alechanova Clothing Sales, Ukraine Paid Back 100% repaid

Norma Isabel Serrano Castro Paper Sales, Mexico Paid Back 100% repaid

Create your own portfolio… it has never been easier to be an international financier for microfinance.