Below is all the information we want to share individually during our presentations. Our speeches that are included in this post will not be said verbatim, but we will be including all aspects of the written speeches below.
Aryan: KIVA is not a charity. It is one of the few non profit organizations that follows through with its mission statement without handouts and donations. Basically, KIVA is an organization that strives to alleviate poverty in developing countries through the process of micro loaning. They do this by establishing connections with a third party in these impoverished countries, known as field partners, which take our loans and send them to needy entrepreneurs. The role of field partners is to review loan requests from local entrepreneurs and send information regarding their business to us, on the kiva website. So overall, the process entails three stages: entrepreneurs ask for a certain sum of money, field partners examine and review such requests, and then entrepreneurs receive a series of micro loans from people all over the world. In the end, all loans are paid back without interest. So far, there has been more than 525 billion dollars loaned in over 73 countries at a 98% payback rate. This micro loaning process has made an immense impact to millions of individuals around the world. With this organization, people hold the power to create an opportunity for themselves and others. In order to truly end poverty throughout the world, we need to provide a stable base for those who don’t live under the same circumstances we do. In the states, we have the ability to create a business through one of three ways. We could seek a loan through a venture capitalist, a local bank or through friends or family. Third world countries don’t have these sources of capital. In most cases, the two options for entrepreneurs are to work with loan sharks or to live in subsistence. Providing a helping hand promotes capitalism and all economies worldwide. In the end, people live longer, happier and in better living conditions.
Nikki: Kiva was founded in October 2005 by Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley.The couple's initial interest in microfinance was inspired by a 2003 lecture given by Grameen Bank's Muhammad Yunus at Stanford Business School. Jessica Jackley, worked at the school and invited Matt Flannery to attend the presentation; this was the first time Flannery had heard of microfinance, but it served as a "call to action" for Jessica. Soon after, Jackley began working as a consultant for the nonprofit Village Enterprise Fund, which worked to help start small businesses in East Africa. While visiting Jessica in Africa, Flannery and Jackley spent time interviewing entrepreneurs about the problems they faced in starting ventures and found the lack of access to start-up capital was a common theme. After returning from Africa, they began developing their plan for a microfinance project that would grow into Kiva, which means "unity" in Swahili. In April 2005, Kiva's first seven loans were funded, totaling $3,500, and the original entrepreneurs were subsequently deemed the "Dream Team”. By September 2005, the entrepreneurs repaid the entirety of their original loans, and the founders realized they had developed a sustainable microcredit concept. After the success of Kiva's initial stage, Flannery and Jackley founded Kiva as a non-profit. In 2006, notable entrepreneurs and businessmen joined Kiva's staff, including Premal Shah from PayPal and Reid Hoffman CEO and founder of Linkedin. Shortly after its first anniversary in October 2006, Kiva reached $1 million in facilitated loans and acquired its twentieth field partner. To the present day, Kiva has continued to grow and expand its field partners while acquiring support from the media and the public.
Nellie: Introduction to my presentation -- Kiva's work is made possible through an extensive network of microfinance organizations around the world. Kiva calls these microfinance organizations Field Partners. Kiva’s Field Partners are responsible for screening borrowers, posting loan requests to Kiva, disbursing loans and collecting repayments, and otherwise administering Kiva loans. Kiva currently has 240 field partners all around the world that assist Kiva in conducting Kiva loans. Field Partners are the critical on the ground link to borrowers: These institutions have entered into an agreement with Kiva to become one of our Field Partners. There is no direct legal relationship between Kiva lenders and Kiva borrowers. Therefore, Field Partners are responsible for the disbursement and collection of Kiva loans. Reviewing loan applications and posting loan requests on Kiva: Kiva Field Partners typically target impoverished or marginalized areas to review loan applications and approve borrowers who demonstrate a need for a loan and a reasonable likelihood of repayment. Each borrower requesting a loan through Kiva has been reviewed and approved by a local Field Partner.The majority of borrowers on Kiva are vetted(examined) by microfinance institutions. There are a variety of lending methods that Kiva's Field Partners use. One common methods is to lend to borrowers who belong to a borrowing group. For example, a group of 4 women from the same village who know each other well would be considered as a borrowing group. In some cases, when groups are bound by a group guarantee, loans to one member of the group are contingent on the other group members repaying on time. Because each member's livelihood depends on other members' repayment, a form of peer monitoring and support develops which helps ensure high repayment rates. Loans directly to individual borrowers are also common, especially as the borrower proves his or her credit-worthiness in a group setting. Some of the borrowers on Kiva are vetted by Field Partners whose core business is not microfinance. In this case, the loan review process varies considerably from partner to partner and can depend on the partner's experience with a borrower, a borrower's capacity to repay, or a borrower's future earnings. Information about the core business of that Field Partner and the loan products they fund on Kiva is contained on each Field Partner's profile page. Once a loan is approved by the Field Partner, the Field Partner takes a picture of the borrower, provides a description of the loan use, and posts the profile information of that borrower to Kiva for funding. Disbursing and Collecting Your Loans: When you lend to a borrower, Kiva delivers the funds to the local Field Partner. The Field Partner will then make collections on that loan. Typically, loan officers will travel out to the borrower’s location, which is typically a rural village, and collect a repayment on a regular basis, which could be weekly or monthly. Borrowers are often able to pay the loan officer the full amount due, on time, without any issues. On occasion, a borrower or Field Partner may be late in payments. You can view each Field Partner's delinquency rate. Once funds are collected and approved for distribution, the Field Partner delivers funds under the net billing system to Kiva and Kiva's software system automatically distributes the repayments to each Kiva lender.
Wesley: Making a loan on Kiva is very simple. I will demonstrate how to create an account and make a loan in as short as five minutes. To register for an account, and the websites requires that you provide your credit card information to make a loan. Next, you select a local entrepreneur to make your loan to. To choose a borrower, you able to select a candidate by your own country, gender and sector preferences. In the process, you are able to click on the borrower to view their status(REpayment schedule, repayment rate, and field partners information) and stories. Once you decided your borrower, then you can click the “lend” button to make a loan starting from $25 up to $150. You will get your money back in the repayment term(the time for the borrowers to pay back the loans). You can repeat the process to make more loans. This how you make loans on Kiva and help entrepreneurs around the world.
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