Offer a Microloan to someone on the Kiva site

Olorunto Busayo of Nigeria for her newstand and Francis Thompson Ileka of Kenya for his metal fabrication business.

Tha is a widow who lives with three of her children in the Kampong Cham province. Since 2005, she has been selling desserts and fruit to earn a living and is able to make about $7.50 US profit every day. She is also supported by her children who are moto-taxi drivers. Ouk Tha is taking out a loan to replace an old and unreliable motorbike for her son. The old one uses a lot of gas and needs many repairs.

My second loan to an entrepreneur in Africa and my seventh loan overall!

Adélia is 46 years old and was born in the district of Massinga in the Province of Inhambane. She went to school until the fourth grade. She is married with 4 children, three of which are adults, and the youngest is 10 years old. She came to live in Boane in 1982 after she was married.

She sells female clothing for juniors and adults as well as bedding that she imports from South Africa. She travels 4 times per month to the neighboring country, and each time she purchases merchandise for around 10,000MT. Her daily sales vary between 1,500MT and 2,000MT, and she earns around 5,000MT each month. Her husband is salaried and earns 4,500MT monthly.

With a loan of 10,000MT she intends to strengthen her purchasing power and reduce the number of trips to South Africa. In the future she would like to construct a small commercial establishment to diversify her types of activities rather than depend on a sole source.

Kuldasheva Khosiyat is 56 years old. She is a widow and the mother of three children. Khosiyat is doing all the best to ensure the best future for her children. That is the reason that she has been running her own business for 19 years already. She has a place in the central market for selling foodstuffs such as macaroni, oil, sugar, spices and other items. She works from 8:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m.

The business is stable and allows her to improve the living conditions of her family. Now Khosiyat needs a loan for increasing the range of her goods. She requests 3000 USD for a term of 12 months. Khosiyat and her children are sincerely grateful for your support.

Mrs. Akou Sodoga was born in 1980 in Nyigbé. Her main business is farming. Very young and courageous, she did not have the chance to complete her studies due to a lack of financial means. It is thus thanks to cash crop farming that she is able to survive. Currently, she is seeking a loan to increase her farming area and to improve her yield, in order to better take care of herself and be prepared for the vicissitudes of life.

It turns out that there are entrepreneurs in the Pacific after all – in Samoa! And it appears that Samoa is in Asia, which is why I missed it initially. Who knew?!

Anyway I’ve made a loan to a lady who wants to purchase farming supplies for her plantation business. I’m still not entirely sure how long it takes for these loans to be repaid but I’m interested in the process and I plan to re-loan the money when it’s finally paid back.

I’ve had a quick look at the site and will give it a go soon. With the exchange rate US$25 = NZ$40 so it’s a bit more than I originally thought although still worth it. I’d only spend this on unnecessary Western triflings right?

One thing that surprised me though was that there were no entrepreneurs I could loan to in the Pacific. I was quite keen on the idea of helping one of my Pacific neighbours. Never mind, instead I’ll help someone in my Asia-Pacific neighbourhood.

to Dennis in Huancayo Peru for Farming and to Zafarjon Turdimatov in Tajikstan for Cattle. I think my Dad would like a Kiva gift certificate for his birthday…

The first KIVA loan I offered has been repaid in full. I was a little disappointed that there was only little information on what the entrepreneur had achieved with the loans… but okay. It didn’t go directly to her but went via a field partner, who wrote the little blurb et cetera, so maybe that’s why. Time to find someone new to invest in!

Svetlana Medvedeva is a young and energetic woman of 22 years. She supports herself by working as a clerk in a perfume shop, a job she has held since she was 18 years old. Her family is disadvantaged and Svetlana decided to help them by working. After doing so for the last four years, Svetlana decided to open a small stall in the same shop and start selling her own goods. She has applied for a $2525 loan for this purpose.