How the Internet is going to save lives in developing countries

Posted on September 15, 2007
Filed Under Economic/Business news, Macroeconomics |

kiva.org Few days ago I talked to my friends about Kiva, an idea that I realy find amazing.

For those of you who don’t know what Kiva is, that’s basically a way of helping people in poor and very poor countries to set a business, by providing access to cheap loans.

Many famous people have expressed enthusiasm about the project. Former USA President B. Clinton said a week ago:

â€œWith Kiva you can make a small business loan of as little as $25, to a business man or a woman whom you select on the Kiva website. It will be delivered through a local non-governmental organization that can be trusted to monitor the progress of the business and make sure the money gets paid back. They have an enormous repayment rate, and then when you see what your loan did, when it’s repaid, you can either turn around and loan the money to a new Kiva recipient or you can take your money backâ€.

The idea derives from Muhammad Junus, Peace Noble Price Winner, but the site has been on for much longer. The site already managed to provide 11 mln $ so far and the positive trend seems to be strengthening. It is commonly called “ebay for microfinance”.The internet is not all about money, there is still place for philantropy.