Kiva hits a $100 Million in loans

Kiva.org hit a major milestone this weekend having loaned $100 million in microloans since it started 4 years ago. The site, which averages a loan every 13 seconds, has brought together nearly 600,000 lenders and 250,000 entrepreneurs.

Built on standard “sponsorship” lines with profile pages for lenders and recipients, the system gives monthly updates of the progress of the business the lender supports and the status of the loan. In the now familiar model when the loan is repaid the lender can choose another entrepreneur to support.

Controversially Kiva last year started allowing US entrepreneurs to apply for loans as well the more traditional recipients from developing countries. In the US at least this does not seem to have done the organisation any harm.

And the attraction of microfinance? Being able to choose the project/entrepreneur seems high on the list and of course the lender is not actually funding Kiva’s admin so 100% of the loan goes to the entrepreneur. “Recycling” the money is also an attractive proposition, although the micro-donation sites such as Givology.org seem just as popular.

Whatever the appeal, congratulations to Kiva for hitting this huge milestone which must have had a massive impact on over 200,000 peoples’ lives and that of their families and communities.