by Nisha Koul -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Skincare Company Dermalogica Establishes Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship (FITE) Project to Encourage Customers to Lend to Entrepreneurial Women via Microfinance Intermediary Kiva

Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship (FITE), an online lending platform designed by US-based microfinance intermediary Kiva, has been established by US-based skincare brand Dermalogica to raise money for on-lending to women worldwide to invest in their businesses.

by Kristha Abores -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: “Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance” Video Shows Graphic Of Kiva’s Worldwide Microlending Activities

Kiva, a US-based online portal allowing individuals to make loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently posted a video simulation of the flow of funds between its lenders and borrowers across the globe from its incorporation in 2005 until 2011.

by Julie Moksim -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Panel Discusses Balancing Profit, Mission, Impact at Microfinance USA Conference 2011, Presented by Opportunity Fund, ACCION, Kiva, in New York City, May 23 – 24

Opportunity Fund, a nonprofit organization based in the US state of California that offers microloans and microsavings primarily to people in the San Francisco Bay area; ACCION International, a microfinance organization that provides lending and financial education to small businesses in twenty-three countries; and Kiva, a US-based online portal that allows individuals to make loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) for on-lending to poor people in sixty countries, hosted the Microfinance USA Conference 2011 on May 23 and May 24 in New York City.

by Rohan Trivedi -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kiva Intermediates “Green Loans” From Individuals to Promote Clean Energy Efforts Worldwide

To commemorate Earth Day on April 22, 2011, online microfinance intermediary Kiva announced the introduction of “Green Loans” to provide opportunities for individuals to lend as little as USD 25 to businesses and individuals looking to fund clean energy efforts [1].

by Stefanie Rubin -

MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Microfinance USA 2010, Hosted Live and by Webcast by Opportunity Fund, Kiva and US ACCION Network on May 20-21, 2010, San Francisco, CA, USA

Event Name: Microfinance USA 2010

Event Date: May 20 to May 21, 2010

Event Location:

Thursday, May 20th at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St, San Francisco, California, USA
Friday, May 21st at The Westin San Francisco Market St, 50 Third St, San Francisco, California, USA

For those unable to attend, the event will be webcast live at http://www.microfinanceusa2010.org/webcast/

Event Website: http://www.microfinanceusa2010.org/

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events

by Radhika Chandrasekhar -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: Kiva.org Partners with Moody’s to Receive Credit Ratings, Risk Management Tools, and Financial Support

According to a recent press release by Marketwire, Kiva.org, known as the first person-to-person online microfinancing website, plans to partner with Moody’s Corporation to provide pro bono credit ratings of partner microfinance institutions (MFIs), risk management training for staff, and financial support to expand its partnership with MFIs. [1]

by Chinq Yee Chong -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: Wokai Uses Kiva-Like Approach To Channel Funds From US Contributors To Microfinance Clients In Rural China – A Reversal In The Creditor-Debtor Relationship Of Both Countries?

The NBC News World Blog [1] recently disseminated a report entitled ‘Role-reversal: Americans provide loans to Chinese’ [2] which focused on the activities of the California-based MFI, Wokai. Wokai [3] does not currently supply data to the MIX Market portal [4], an online database of information on MFIs across the globe. Wokai was founded eight months ago by Mr Casey Wilson and Ms Courtney McColgan who aim to provide assistance to some of China’s estimated 228 million people that have no access to basic financial services. Wokai’s core operations are in Beijing and the organisation also has active representatives in San Francisco, Seattle and New York. The organisation currently relies on fundraising events, grants, corporate sponsorships and individual donors for funding. Wokai’s work in China is an interesting development, particularly in light of the fact that China recently surpassed Japan as the largest foreign holder of US Treasury bonds. As the largest creditor of the United States, China’s investment in US government issued securities amount to approximately USD 1.5 trillion [5] [6]. Although China may be a fast developing economy, significant numbers of Chinese people in rural areas continue to live on less than USD 1 a day, according to Mr Wilson.

by Zoran Stanisljevic -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Tori Hogan’s Ninth Episode (Entitled “Micro-lending”) of the Ten-Part Film Series “Beyond Good Intentions” Takes a Critical Look at the Realities of Micro-Lending by Questioning the Impact of the Kiva Model

Director Tori Hogan’s Ninth Episode (entitled “Micro-lending”) of a ten-part film series “Beyond Good Intentions” takes a critical look at the realities of micro-lending by questioning the impact of one of the world’s respected and favorite microfinance organization: Kiva.org (Kiva).  Ms. Hogan openly debates that while she has total respect and admiration for the numerous successful work performed by the Kiva organization and the team, her experiences and research in the microfinance field, specifically in both Cambodia and Mozambique, left much to be desired.  Outside of the interviews and assessments, Ms. Hogan does not reference the vast amount of material currently available to the public that is critical of microfinance.

by Bharathi Ram -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Kiva.org Launches Email Alerts to Notify Users about Microfinance Lending Opportunities

Kiva.org, the online microfinance brokerage has come up with a service called KivaAlerts which notifies users by email about loans of their choice which appears on Kiva.org. KivaAlerts is a simple to configure interface that enables users to setup alerts for entrepreneur loan criteria that they are usually most interested in. The users are then notified by email whenever lending opportunities satisfying their criteria arises. According to the KivaAlerts team, this initiative is an effort to address the issues of information overload that interested donors typically face. The idea is to focus specifically on preferences of each interested donor and to present only information that are of interest to the donors.

by Ryan Hogarth -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: A Kiva-like Internet Microfinance Brokerage “Lend-for-Peace” is Founded for Palestine

Two Jews and two Palestinians joined together at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania to launch a non-profit internet microfinance brokerage called “Lendfor Peace.org” (LFP).  Like Kiva.org, LFP facilitates microloans from individuals around the world to partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) who on-loan the funds to women living in poverty that want to start small businesses.  LFP, however, focuses exclusively on the Palestinian territories.  During the most recent escalation of violence in Gaza, LFP cofounders released a blog explaining their common motivation in launching the microfinance support platform: “The current crisis will increase the number of people who are financially and emotionally strained and has the potential to result in echoes of desperation and violence in the future. We believe that support systems in these regions are more crucial than ever and that an infrastructure for rebuilding the economies of the affected areas will be important for the success of any accord.”