I must say I took what Premal was saying at the end of the interview as returning to a vision he's expressed before for Kiva to diversify into other areas, probably not using exactly the same platform as we have now for loans to "the working poor". He mentioned as an example of what might happen, a loan to someone across the bay in Oakland who wants to install solar panels, which in view of the cost of that stuff would probably involve lending to the working affluent rather than the working poor.
From the write-up of a conference call in April 2009:
Premal: let me fast forward to the future. 10 years from now we would like Kiva to be about social transformation - "lending for social change" in a marketplace where activity is transparent
I want to understand where we are going wrong here. Just like on Ebay you can find many things, and leave it to the internet to decide? Would it do more good long-term?
Premal's remark there was after enduring a significantly less than rapturous -- you might even say sharply hostile -- reception for the idea of loans to teachers (scroll down to the section labelled
Loans to teachers through Teach For America (TFA) -
http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,3371.msg57310.html#msg57310)
My instincts are with Jan on this. I'd like to see Kiva consolidate, and concentrate on trying to do one thing well, rather than diversify into areas in which it has no special competence. Perhaps after a full year of experiencing no failed relationships with its microfinance field partners, and demonstrating a real commitment to transparency in various ways,
then it could think about expanding into other areas. Of course the injunction to do one thing well is not one that appeals much in the world of dotcom-ish movers and shakers, where relentless innovation and change tends to be part of the deal.
-Peter
