MicroCredit Buzz #1: What's Going on at Kiva.org? Is PBS/Frontline the Cause?

"Kiva.org did not not stand a chance." That is what the San Francisco-based company formed by a couple and a Ugandan field partner had to put up with. Actually, the owners and all the microlenders who use the site to connect with poor people of the world are happy with this recognition. Maybe they did not expect the story by Frontline/World to cause a stampede to Kiva.org in search of information. Since last Tuesday, the servers running Kiva.org have been out. When the listeners go to the site in search of information, all they found was a page telling them about the PBS report. Kiva.org has received lots of support in the past few days. Some of the listeners wrote feedback or reacted to the story by saying that they want to be part of this enterprise. Listeners from the US and Europe want to use Kiva.org software to reach out to the poor who are seen as non-credit-worthy by major banking institutions. They want to loan small amount of money to women who are in far-flung countries such as the Sub-saharan ones, Uganda and others.

Technology has played a huge role in our lives these days. Young entrepreneurs, IT staff, computer engineers working at posh jobs in the Silicon Valley want their technology to make it easy for poor people to benefit even if it's in small amounts. They want to find something to connect to people. They want to be part of the solution. Establishing Direct contacts with the beneficiaries of their loans seems to be the way of the future.

This is the business that MicroCreditCapital Funding is in. MCC Funding wants to help people in Haiti and elsewhere to develop their own small businesses. MCC Funding's Field Partners will vet and approve the businesses that are going to be posted on this site. Only then will they be able to receive a small loan. Two recipients out of a group of five will make sure to succeed so that the others can receive their loans too. Peer pressure and community responsibility will cause them to make good use of the money they receive.