Loan $500 in microcredit via Kiva.org

$25 bucks to an Azerbaijani man with a flower shop. The vast majority of businesses in Azerbaijan that needed loans were farms, but to be honest, I’m not so keen on lending to agriculture- value-added businesses, like this flower shop, seem to be to be a better bet for getting your money back.

$25 more bucks, this time to an Ecuadorian woman with a general store.

Something I noticed is that loans for men take a lot more time to get filled than loans for women. I understand the psychology of this- we want to empower women in third world countries… but while my goal originally was to balance my loans 50/50 between men and women, I’m starting to wonder if maybe I shouldn’t gear them a little bit more towards men, just to balance things out with the rest of the site? What do you guys think?

So my plan is to donate $25 a month, plus $25 here or there whenever I have some cash to spare. As loans get repaid, I’ll just pump them back in to other businesses that need microcredit.

The first recipient of my money was chosen because he’s about my age and I like that he helps support his family. Also, he’s from Azerbaijan, which is right next door to Iran, where my family is from.