Hello All!
I too am a newbie to Kiva. Like many I joined after watching the Frontline episode. I joined with gusto and thought it was the most awesome thing I had ever heard of. I think I invested something like $250 almost immediatly, bought a t-shirt, and told all my friends about it. For me $250 is a huge chunk of change.
Then I found this forum, and did a little reading. Some of it was a little sobering, and part of me thought hum, maybe I should have just invested $25 or $50 while I see how this goes. At first I was pretty random in picking who or where I invested.
But over the last couple of days I saw my first re-payments being made. This excites me on so many levels. To me this means that a) these businesses are prospering (I pray this is true) and b) I get to turn around and re-invest sooner. Yeh, only a small portion is being re-paid, but it does mean that for one I am $3.14 closer to giving someone lending someone else my $50.
When I do have that opportunity, or when I come up with more funds to invest I will do my research. Certain countries I have discovered that I have more intrest in now. Yup, I'd like to focus on women, I am one after all. I will look into the lending companies a little more closely, and I think I like shorter re-payment periods. Afterall I get such a joy out of the turn around.
I have discovered that I look at fellow lenders closely when choosing who I want to lend too. I am new to Northern New Jersey, so folks who live near me make me feel some comminality with my new home. And, those from my own home town or area make me feel like I still have some ties. This too is part of my newbie deciding factor. :-)
I think my t-shirt states that Kiva is unspeakably amazingly awesome, and I firmly stand by that!
