A Marriage Of Passions

One of the most important things any leader can do for his or her organization, community, or movement is to practice "seeing possibilities." If you can't see a future and believe that things can be new, probably no one else will, either. Well, talk about "seeing possibilities..."

Four years ago, 26-year old grad student Jessica Flannery came up with the idea for Kiva after listening to a Nobel Prize winner give a speech, partly as a solution to what she describes as a "marriage problem" she and her fiance uncovered during pre-marital counseling at their church (watch the YouTube video below). She wanted to work for an organization trying to solve poverty in Africa; her fiance wanted to work in Silicon Valley. Their resulting marriage of interests and passions created Kiva.

The Kiva website explains:

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. 

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Here's how Kiva works: 

You visit the Kiva website and scroll through the pages of people from all over the world who are looking for small loans to help them get started and/or expand a business. The loans vary from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. They go to buy sewing machines, soda dispensers, livestock, etc. They get paid back within months. You pick the person you'd like to help. You can see his or her photo and read a description of what they will do with the money. Then, you click on a button that says "LEND $25." You can lend as many increments of $25 as you want to help somebody meet his or her goal. Your money goes directly to the entrepreneur. When they pay it back, you get your money back. If you're like almost everybody else in the Kiva community, you turn around and lend it to somebody else. 

In four years Flannery and her husband, Matt, have raised more than $23 million in no-interest loans from 250,000 lenders to fund microbusinesses in 40 countries. About two-thirds of Kiva's borrowers are women. One source says the micro-loans Kiva facilitates are creating "macro-change."

At A Renewal Enterprise, we'll be lending money to people through Kiva as a part of our company tithe (10% of our profits) this year. On our own, each of us also give Kiva gift certificates to our kids, family members, colleagues and friends, as Christmas gifts, so they can experience the power and joy of being a part of making somebody else's dream come true. 

One-to-one lending from those who can make a difference to those who want to. Can't you just see all the possibilities?