new directions for Kiva?

[Guest]

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[AccountAbility]

Alan - I think your approach is mirrored in the language that Kiva started out with, namely loaning to the "working poor" and using the term "entrepreneur" for borrowers.

I have always had a special interest in loans to "entrepreneurs" who either employ others in their business or are ready to if they receive a loan. 
There are different approaches to fighting poverty, which frequently is not just about an single individual but rather about a community. If such an entrepreneur is too small or too isolated to get credit from other sources, then I think that's a perfect fit for Kiva's mission.

Dan

[alan]

I agree, Dan. Lending to someone who is also employing others would have an immediate knock-on effect. And you might be helping a small-business owner whose employees wouldn't qualify for microcredit, but who would nonetheless benefit from the loan by working for a more successful business. I saw an example this morning in a Kenyan barbershop owner with one employee.

What was between the lines of what I wrote earlier is that there are different tools in fighting poverty which address different sorts and levels of need, and different tools need to be used each for their appropriate purpose in a co-ordinated effort to fight poverty. Microcredit is one tool, but it will not by itself solve all the problems of all the poor in the world. I've just finished reading Dambisa Moyo's book, Dead Aid. She outlines a number of things that African countries could be doing to improve their lot to attack poverty from a number of perspectives simultaneously. Microcredit is one of the tools she mentions. Another is remittances, and it's interesting how frequently one reads in Kiva loan descriptions that a family member (usually the husband) is working in another country and sending remittances.