sacha chua :: living an awesome life

Donated $110 through Kiva, a microcredit site

Posted on January 19th, 2008 by Sacha Chua

I believe in microcredit. I believe in helping people help themselves and people around them through entrepreneurship. Access to capital is hard if you’re just starting a business, and microcredit loans bridge that step. Besides, it’s great learning a little bit about the people you’re lending to, instead of just donating to a big organization.

I believe in microcredit. I just hadn’t done anything about it until today, when I read Quinn’s blog post about receiving a $25 Kiva gift certificate and lending to a barber in Cambodia. I registered on the site and lent $100 from my charity budget.

I lend to women, because statistics show that they have a higher repayment ratio compared to men. I prefer to lend to people who have had experience with microlending and business. In particular, I prefer to lend to women with children and a business, because they’ve got really good reasons to manage the business well and they’re used to handling lots of things going on at the same time. I also prefer to lend to groups, because they have good social support and motivation.

I believe in microcredit, and I’m glad that I can do something about it. In fact, I’m going to follow Quinn’s example here and regularly give away gift certificates, one each month. =) Maybe even two, if I like the system.

Now if Kiva would partner with a microfinance organization in the Philippines, that would be awesome.

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2 Responses to “Donated $110 through Kiva, a microcredit site”

1. quinn // Jan 19, 2008 at 12:40 pm

   wow, that’s incredible! I’m glad you explained your rationale behind who you lent to, great things to think about. Lending to the barber was a bit of my hat tip to my grandfather in Hong Kong (who I never met), as he owned barbershops which makes me assume that he was a barber.

   It is pretty neat to get an email in a couple of weeks when enough people have contributed so that the loan is actually made. And I do so like that a lot of times they report their status in their native tongue. They’re blogging and they don’t even know it.

2. Sacha Chua // Jan 19, 2008 at 8:36 pm

   I’m looking forward to reading those updates. It reminds me of how some people sponsor children in developing countries, and they hear from them once in a while…

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