Kiva Friends - Exciting News I Want to Share...

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A very special event for me

On May the 28 I had the pleasure to visit Al Majmoua in Beirut.

First I had a long conversation with Youssef Fawaz executive director. We talked about Kiva in general and what it means for them. Al Majmoua is a non profit organisation which is totally indipented so Kiva is important for them because the money is free of interest for them. Although it is for free it still costs them around 3%. Think about the stories updates etc. Sarah Baba is fulltime working for Kiva. She takes care of all the Kiva related subjects.

Youssef asked me what was important for us Kiva lenders. I can of course only speak for myself, but a good picture and story and updates are important for I think most of us. The last half year the updates are great from them stories improved (they made it a part of the loan application so the loan officer has to fill it in an the client has to singe that he agrees that his picture is shown on the internet (Kiva). The pictures are not always that good . They have 30 (if I am not mistaken) loan officers and they can't afford it to give them all a camera so a lot of those pictures are made by cellphones. Sarah is urging them to make better pictures and I think they are better now then before.

I asked why Al Majmoua has only 4 stars while Ameen has 5 stars. For me they are performing much better, He himself doesn't understand it neither. The next question why are there so many man asking for a loanand so few woman. The problem is various but it might not be a surprise to you that the main reason is social and religious. (may I suggest that if you don't like to lend to a man think of it as behind every man is a woman).

The lender pays around 1.3 % a month and they are planning to reduce that. As I happen to know in the streets of Lebanon you pay 7 % on a monthly base. 95 % of their lenders have no access to regular banks so I think they have a good deal.

Youssef asked me how I would feel if a lender can't pay back. For me as one Kiva lender I really don't care. I don't think they should cover the loss because I am taking that risk. I should mention that in 2006 during the war they lost 7.00000 dollar specially from people in the south. They took that loss because there was no way that they could ask the people to pay it back. Just to remember big parts of the south and a part of Beirut was completed destroyed.

I talked with Alia Farhat , business development manager, for a while about here work. Al Majmoua gives free training specially to woman entrepreneurs who have or plan to start a business. They build networks so the women can get better deals. they bring women to work together. They give those courses not only to clients of Al Majmoua but they do that also for other organisations. It was very intresting to hear what they have reached so far

Finally I talked with Sara Baba, who was so kind to arrange this meeting, and Nishita who is a Kiva fellow and worked for Ameen and Al Majmoua. You can read all of here bloggs if you are interested. I discussed also the subject of Ameen suddenly started to put the loans anonymous. I told her that I don't like the reason Ameen is giving for it because I think the situation in Lebanon is improving. She told me that the clients don't like to have their picture on the internet and Ameen respects that. A lot of people also don't want other people to see that they took a loan that reason I can understand. Never realised that in not to poor countries it is 2 clicks away and you can see who applied for a loan. We talked about the football game between the two Ngo's. On June 8 Th they will have a Kiva event in Beirut.A lot of the Lebanese are poor people not to compare with most African countries but still poor and there is of course a group who can afford everything. It is a challenge to try to reach them.

My conclusion I was impressed how open they were how they try to make live better for the Lebanese who needs help. I was a fan for a long time but now I am even bigger fan

So right now there are a few Lebanese loans in the red so if you can help please do.

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