Yesterday, actress and activist Sofia Vergara announced her partnership with Kiva, and her contribution to the Global COVID-19 Response fund. Check it out!
Join the movement with Sofia and Kiva! Find out more about the Global COVID-19 Response fund and make a contribution today.
Interested...
Blog posts tagged with microfinance
Today, we’ve announced a global response to support small businesses, entrepreneurs, farmers, and families globally who urgently need financial assistance due to COVID-19. This fund is supported by actress Sofia Vergara along with partners like Hitachi and the Hiscox Foundation, and will focus on providing direct funds to vulnerable populations like minorities, women, and those in isolated areas.
...
"The harvest I get after working with Apollo is not comparable to what I used to harvest before joining Apollo. From the harvest [now], I'm able to sell and get money to pay school fees, and take my kids for school, and still get enough for food at home."
Kiva media fellow Jeremy Jue captured Wilson's amazing story about working with our Field Partner Apollo Agriculture in Kenya. Check it out!
At Kiva, we’ve been making changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to new and difficult economic problems across the world.
One group we’ve been in close contact with throughout this process is our Field Partners, who are responsible for disbursing loans to our borrowers and collecting repayments on the ground in the many countries where we operate. Our Field Partners are local nonprofits, microfinance institutions, schools, social enterprises and NGOs — many...
Meet Elina Pandey, Kiva's Tech Operations intern! She's originally from Nepal, now working in Kiva HQ in the tech department.
2013 was one of the most exciting years of my life and also the year I had the opportunity to make my “American Dream” true.
Coming to America, I won’t lie, was a not-so-easy transition for the first few years....
Kiva expresses much gratitude and appreciation for our fellows, volunteers and interns who put in the countless hours to make an impact in our community and the world. With International Volunteer Week coming to a close, we not only commend our volunteers this week but also every day.
We want to wrap up our celebrations by spotlighting some more of our volunteers. Learn about who they are and what they do here at Kiva!
RTP Volunteer: Renata Wolff...
With the start of International Volunteer Week, we want to continue showing gratitude for our wonderful volunteers. At Kiva, our volunteers work diligently to make an impact for our community, whether that be in the office or in the field.
Get to know some of Kiva’s volunteers through their experiences, stories and careers!
RTP Volunteer: Ronan Reodica
Kiva borrowers located in the United States go through a "private" fundraising period before their loan is published on the website for lenders to contribute. In this period, they'll reach out to their community of customers, friends and family to contribute to their loan as a form of "social underwriting."
This can seem intimidating at first, but most borrowers are surprised at how willing people are to support them! CEO of Fresh to Def Collective and Kiva borrower Hope Lehman talks about her experience with the private fundraising period. She’s a borrower who felt...
At any given moment, Kiva’s website hosts thousands of borrower profiles and loan requests from all corners of the globe. As a result, many of these profiles require translation and editing before they can be made visible to the public. This is where the Review and Translation Program (RTP) steps in.
RTP is composed of hundreds of volunteers that review, translate and edit loans on a daily basis in order to see them fundraise on the Kiva site. These individuals typically review at least 16,000 loans per month. Their skills are so appreciated and just last year, they...
Algo que me siempre me ha sorprendido es cómo la comida puede ilustrar los cambios vividos por comunidades durante varias generaciones. Viajar por el mundo, o incluso a la vuelta de la esquina a un nuevo restaurante, me permite saborear la cultura a través de un interés compartido. Al usar la comida como mi lente crítica, aprendí sobre el impacto del cambio climático en la agricultura global.
Como Fellow de Kiva, tengo la oportunidad de visitar las áreas donde Kiva invierte mucho para promover la inclusión financiera en comunidades desatendidas. Aquí...
This week marks International Volunteer Week, a celebration of the people that sacrifice their time to selflessly help others. For us, the Kiva community is something we hold close to our hearts as our motivators and inspiration. We would not be here without our partners, borrowers and lenders — but also those who make up our backbone: our volunteers.
Meet a few of the individuals that make things happen at Kiva!
RTP Volunteer: Lorne Warwick
...
This blog was written by Impact Investments Fellow Gabriela Aleman during her Field Partner visits in Latin America. You can find the original English version here.
__
¿Que puedo devolver?
Esta ha sido una pregunta recurrente que me he hecho al entrevistar a los prestatarios de Kiva en Nicaragua. Como miembro del equipo de Inversiones de Impacto en Kiva, he viajado a conocer nuestros Socios con el enfoque de recopilar datos, auditar informes de pagos e informar sobre métricas.
For all the parents out there, we know it’s difficult to try and be superhumans during these strange and uncertain times. It’s a massive challenge to balance work and family life at home, juggling all the obstacles that come with this new pandemic-induced lifestyle. At Kiva, we want to help in any way we can.
With schools halting in-person meetings, we understand that many parents are currently looking for activities to provide their children with while they are at home during this time. It’s often difficult to find options that are interesting, educational and fun!...
The smell of fresh cucumbers and the taste of vine-ripened tomatoes bring back nostalgic memories of when organic food was the norm. Now, because of the high global demand for fruits and vegetables, many farmers have turned to the use of industrial techniques that often produce mass quantities, yet less flavorful produce.
Evgeniya is an active and goal-oriented farmer who doesn’t use any of these techniques - she produces organic products instead. She lives with her husband Vasily, who works as the chief engineer at a collective farm...
Meet Michael Kamundi, a devoted farmer and borrower from the Nkubu area of Kenya. He dreams of providing his children with the tools to build a brighter future.
As a dedicated husband and father, Michael goes to great lengths to provide for his family. He always tries to ensure that they are well-fed and that his children earn a quality education. To do this, Michael has committed the past six years to growing and selling banana and coffee crops. On top of that, he also owns two dairy cows...
Today, technology facilitates all manners of processes, reducing once lengthy and arduous operations to a matter of mere seconds. Kiva lenders know this to be true — with the click of a button, they can help fund the dream of a farmer in Uganda, an artisan in Tajikistan or a refugee entrepreneur in Colombia. As easy and enjoyable as Kiva has made the lending process, it is worth noting that there’s a great deal of work that goes into delivering that loan into a borrower’s hands.
One of our Nicaraguan field partners, La Asociación Pueblos en Acción Comunitaria...
Kiva has always stood as a community for doing good and paving the way for universal financial inclusion. At Kiva, we work towards breaking down the barriers that prevent people from gaining access to capital, resources and more. On the other side of the equation, Kiva would not be where we are today without our borrowers and lenders.
Starting a small business proves to be a challenging, yet extremely rewarding experience. We want to celebrate just some of the risk-takers amongst our borrowers across the states!
As a fearless leader and caretaker, Elpidia Esther started a small business out of her home in order to fulfill the needs of her family and new neighborhood. Elpidia is the first of many inhabitants of a neighborhood in the municipality of Soledad, Colombia. With that being said, her store did not pop up overnight. In fact, she credits her leap of faith to her sister and her niece. They often serve as her biggest motivators and cheerleaders. They pushed her to open up her convenience store in Soledad and to apply for a loan on Kiva.
For Martha Magali, a mother from Peru, being able to buy a cow could mean the difference between her and a better life.
From a young age, Martha learned all the necessary skills and knowledge needed for raising livestock from her parents. In order to provide for her family, Martha is a farmer with a specialty in raising and selling a unique breed of sheep. Everything she does, she does for her children. Although her business is successful, she wanted to speed up her earnings in order to get her...
Meet Misha...
Misha grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Surrounded by the creativity of the Motown culture in Detroit, her ambition was to become an artist. She spent a decade in New York, growing a business in jewelry design and working in the arts — all while raising two children as a single parent. Utilizing her experience in the arts, Misha began supporting her aunt and uncle with their dream of opening an art center in her hometown of Detroit. When her uncle suddenly passed away in 2013, Misha stepped into a leadership role on the...
Meet Anna Gravois, Kiva's Review and Translation Program intern! A Louisiana native, Anna has always been interested in the intersection of different cultures and languages, and loves to explore this intersection with the aid of her camera in her free time.
-
For as long as I can remember, I have been surrounded by family members speaking in Russian, Cajun-French and English simultaneously. Holidays have always been filled with platters of crawfish, pots of gumbo and...
Amidst Kiva’s Investments Week, we had the opportunity to chat with Rachel Lewis, a Senior Investment Manager for Kiva. Lewis has been with Kiva for the past 5 years, in a variety of positions. Originally, Lewis started out at Kiva as a Fellow in Albania and Kosovo! And she’s come far. In her current role as a Senior Investment Manager, Lewis manages and oversees a portfolio of Kiva partners across sub-Saharan Africa.
“During my time, I've been lucky enough to get to work with many of Kiva’s diverse types of partners, everything from our social...
Kiva community,
Small businesses are already being negatively impacted by the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus in the United States, including many members of the Kiva community. Whether it’s your favorite neighborhood coffee shop, your best friend who owns a storefront or a local grower you support at the farmer's market, millions of American businesses will be disrupted when employees and customers must stay home and supply chains break down.
Many of those businesses and entrepreneurs are currently looking for financial relief to survive the...
Happy International Women’s Day!
We had the most amazing time celebrating women in the Kiva community and around the world. In the past week, this community has lent over $4 million to almost 40,000 women in 57 countries!
So what did our week look like?
First, we kicked off seven days of celebrations with an...
Pages
Blog posts tagged with microfinance
Yesterday, actress and activist Sofia Vergara announced her partnership with Kiva, and her contribution to the Global COVID-19 Response fund. Check it out!
Join the movement with Sofia and Kiva! Find out more about the Global COVID-19 Response fund and make a contribution today.
Interested...
Today, we’ve announced a global response to support small businesses, entrepreneurs, farmers, and families globally who urgently need financial assistance due to COVID-19. This fund is supported by actress Sofia Vergara along with partners like Hitachi and the Hiscox Foundation, and will focus on providing direct funds to vulnerable populations like minorities, women, and those in isolated areas.
...
"The harvest I get after working with Apollo is not comparable to what I used to harvest before joining Apollo. From the harvest [now], I'm able to sell and get money to pay school fees, and take my kids for school, and still get enough for food at home."
Kiva media fellow Jeremy Jue captured Wilson's amazing story about working with our Field Partner Apollo Agriculture in Kenya. Check it out!
At Kiva, we’ve been making changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to new and difficult economic problems across the world.
One group we’ve been in close contact with throughout this process is our Field Partners, who are responsible for disbursing loans to our borrowers and collecting repayments on the ground in the many countries where we operate. Our Field Partners are local nonprofits, microfinance institutions, schools, social enterprises and NGOs — many...
Meet Elina Pandey, Kiva's Tech Operations intern! She's originally from Nepal, now working in Kiva HQ in the tech department.
2013 was one of the most exciting years of my life and also the year I had the opportunity to make my “American Dream” true.
Coming to America, I won’t lie, was a not-so-easy transition for the first few years....
Kiva expresses much gratitude and appreciation for our fellows, volunteers and interns who put in the countless hours to make an impact in our community and the world. With International Volunteer Week coming to a close, we not only commend our volunteers this week but also every day.
We want to wrap up our celebrations by spotlighting some more of our volunteers. Learn about who they are and what they do here at Kiva!
RTP Volunteer: Renata Wolff...
With the start of International Volunteer Week, we want to continue showing gratitude for our wonderful volunteers. At Kiva, our volunteers work diligently to make an impact for our community, whether that be in the office or in the field.
Get to know some of Kiva’s volunteers through their experiences, stories and careers!
RTP Volunteer: Ronan Reodica
Kiva borrowers located in the United States go through a "private" fundraising period before their loan is published on the website for lenders to contribute. In this period, they'll reach out to their community of customers, friends and family to contribute to their loan as a form of "social underwriting."
This can seem intimidating at first, but most borrowers are surprised at how willing people are to support them! CEO of Fresh to Def Collective and Kiva borrower Hope Lehman talks about her experience with the private fundraising period. She’s a borrower who felt...
At any given moment, Kiva’s website hosts thousands of borrower profiles and loan requests from all corners of the globe. As a result, many of these profiles require translation and editing before they can be made visible to the public. This is where the Review and Translation Program (RTP) steps in.
RTP is composed of hundreds of volunteers that review, translate and edit loans on a daily basis in order to see them fundraise on the Kiva site. These individuals typically review at least 16,000 loans per month. Their skills are so appreciated and just last year, they...
Algo que me siempre me ha sorprendido es cómo la comida puede ilustrar los cambios vividos por comunidades durante varias generaciones. Viajar por el mundo, o incluso a la vuelta de la esquina a un nuevo restaurante, me permite saborear la cultura a través de un interés compartido. Al usar la comida como mi lente crítica, aprendí sobre el impacto del cambio climático en la agricultura global.
Como Fellow de Kiva, tengo la oportunidad de visitar las áreas donde Kiva invierte mucho para promover la inclusión financiera en comunidades desatendidas. Aquí...
This week marks International Volunteer Week, a celebration of the people that sacrifice their time to selflessly help others. For us, the Kiva community is something we hold close to our hearts as our motivators and inspiration. We would not be here without our partners, borrowers and lenders — but also those who make up our backbone: our volunteers.
Meet a few of the individuals that make things happen at Kiva!
RTP Volunteer: Lorne Warwick
...
This blog was written by Impact Investments Fellow Gabriela Aleman during her Field Partner visits in Latin America. You can find the original English version here.
__
¿Que puedo devolver?
Esta ha sido una pregunta recurrente que me he hecho al entrevistar a los prestatarios de Kiva en Nicaragua. Como miembro del equipo de Inversiones de Impacto en Kiva, he viajado a conocer nuestros Socios con el enfoque de recopilar datos, auditar informes de pagos e informar sobre métricas.
For all the parents out there, we know it’s difficult to try and be superhumans during these strange and uncertain times. It’s a massive challenge to balance work and family life at home, juggling all the obstacles that come with this new pandemic-induced lifestyle. At Kiva, we want to help in any way we can.
With schools halting in-person meetings, we understand that many parents are currently looking for activities to provide their children with while they are at home during this time. It’s often difficult to find options that are interesting, educational and fun!...
The smell of fresh cucumbers and the taste of vine-ripened tomatoes bring back nostalgic memories of when organic food was the norm. Now, because of the high global demand for fruits and vegetables, many farmers have turned to the use of industrial techniques that often produce mass quantities, yet less flavorful produce.
Evgeniya is an active and goal-oriented farmer who doesn’t use any of these techniques - she produces organic products instead. She lives with her husband Vasily, who works as the chief engineer at a collective farm...
Meet Michael Kamundi, a devoted farmer and borrower from the Nkubu area of Kenya. He dreams of providing his children with the tools to build a brighter future.
As a dedicated husband and father, Michael goes to great lengths to provide for his family. He always tries to ensure that they are well-fed and that his children earn a quality education. To do this, Michael has committed the past six years to growing and selling banana and coffee crops. On top of that, he also owns two dairy cows...
Today, technology facilitates all manners of processes, reducing once lengthy and arduous operations to a matter of mere seconds. Kiva lenders know this to be true — with the click of a button, they can help fund the dream of a farmer in Uganda, an artisan in Tajikistan or a refugee entrepreneur in Colombia. As easy and enjoyable as Kiva has made the lending process, it is worth noting that there’s a great deal of work that goes into delivering that loan into a borrower’s hands.
One of our Nicaraguan field partners, La Asociación Pueblos en Acción Comunitaria...
Kiva has always stood as a community for doing good and paving the way for universal financial inclusion. At Kiva, we work towards breaking down the barriers that prevent people from gaining access to capital, resources and more. On the other side of the equation, Kiva would not be where we are today without our borrowers and lenders.
Starting a small business proves to be a challenging, yet extremely rewarding experience. We want to celebrate just some of the risk-takers amongst our borrowers across the states!
As a fearless leader and caretaker, Elpidia Esther started a small business out of her home in order to fulfill the needs of her family and new neighborhood. Elpidia is the first of many inhabitants of a neighborhood in the municipality of Soledad, Colombia. With that being said, her store did not pop up overnight. In fact, she credits her leap of faith to her sister and her niece. They often serve as her biggest motivators and cheerleaders. They pushed her to open up her convenience store in Soledad and to apply for a loan on Kiva.
For Martha Magali, a mother from Peru, being able to buy a cow could mean the difference between her and a better life.
From a young age, Martha learned all the necessary skills and knowledge needed for raising livestock from her parents. In order to provide for her family, Martha is a farmer with a specialty in raising and selling a unique breed of sheep. Everything she does, she does for her children. Although her business is successful, she wanted to speed up her earnings in order to get her...
Meet Misha...
Misha grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Surrounded by the creativity of the Motown culture in Detroit, her ambition was to become an artist. She spent a decade in New York, growing a business in jewelry design and working in the arts — all while raising two children as a single parent. Utilizing her experience in the arts, Misha began supporting her aunt and uncle with their dream of opening an art center in her hometown of Detroit. When her uncle suddenly passed away in 2013, Misha stepped into a leadership role on the...
Meet Anna Gravois, Kiva's Review and Translation Program intern! A Louisiana native, Anna has always been interested in the intersection of different cultures and languages, and loves to explore this intersection with the aid of her camera in her free time.
-
For as long as I can remember, I have been surrounded by family members speaking in Russian, Cajun-French and English simultaneously. Holidays have always been filled with platters of crawfish, pots of gumbo and...
Amidst Kiva’s Investments Week, we had the opportunity to chat with Rachel Lewis, a Senior Investment Manager for Kiva. Lewis has been with Kiva for the past 5 years, in a variety of positions. Originally, Lewis started out at Kiva as a Fellow in Albania and Kosovo! And she’s come far. In her current role as a Senior Investment Manager, Lewis manages and oversees a portfolio of Kiva partners across sub-Saharan Africa.
“During my time, I've been lucky enough to get to work with many of Kiva’s diverse types of partners, everything from our social...
Kiva community,
Small businesses are already being negatively impacted by the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus in the United States, including many members of the Kiva community. Whether it’s your favorite neighborhood coffee shop, your best friend who owns a storefront or a local grower you support at the farmer's market, millions of American businesses will be disrupted when employees and customers must stay home and supply chains break down.
Many of those businesses and entrepreneurs are currently looking for financial relief to survive the...
Happy International Women’s Day!
We had the most amazing time celebrating women in the Kiva community and around the world. In the past week, this community has lent over $4 million to almost 40,000 women in 57 countries!
So what did our week look like?
First, we kicked off seven days of celebrations with an...