Become the Banker

Have you ever wanted the power of being able to decide who gets loans. With microloans, your wish can come true. Essentially, microloans are very small loans that are given to poor entrepreneurs, usually living in poor developing countries. These entrepreneurs usually lack collateral, employment, and credit history because these countries don’t have proper banking practices. This makes it very hard for people in developing countries to receive loans and, in the big picture, spark economic growth. Most of these loan seekers only need a couple thousand US dollars to start their business, and now you can help them out.

There are many different groups that deal with microloans. Some are based on receiving interest off the loans, while others are just looking to get back the amount given. Kiva.org is one of those looking to help out aspiring entrepreneurs. They make it very simple to start lending:

• Choose a business you would like to send money to, via credit card
• Kiva transfers all the funds to your new partner
• You are provided business updates
• Funds are returned (almost 100% of no defaulting), and you can decide to lend again or withdraw

Just by glancing at their site, Kiva.org, all potential borrowers have a detailed profile including a picture. If you don’t want to lend too much money, the minimum is $25. Each business can have more then one lender and many of them do. It is a great way to help out other aspiring entrepreneurs who don’t have access to the same resources that most of us do, and eventually you will get the money back. So enough of me. Here is a video that does a good job of summing up microloans and kiva.org.