Aid for entrepreneurs

[Zip]

I've never heard of this before but Kiva is a micro finance site where an individual can lend as little as $25 to an entrepreneur in a third world nation. The money is paid back usually within a year.

Imagine that, fostering capitalism and self-reliance instead of throwing "aid money"at a third world cleptocracy though the normal channels.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php

[flatlander]

My wife and I gave a Kiva loan to a lady in Kenya who owned a tiny general store and needed some credit to expand her inventory. We made the loan in July and it's about a third of the way paid off. The loan term is eighteen months. The beauty of this is that our money is not ending up in the pocket of a third world thug.

I caught a part of an episode of Numbers where the main character, the mathematician, illustrated how micro-credit loans build individual wealth in poor countries. He finished with a great line: "It amazes me when capitalists are surprised that capitalism actually works!"

Edited February 25, 2009 by flatlander

[aequalsa]

"It amazes me when capitalists are surprised that capitalism actually works!"

That's a nice quote. I guess that it really shouldn't be surprising that us greedy capitalists would even be better at being 'altruistic,' than looters. We actually care that it goes to the source and is used efficiently. I mean, what other charity gets 100% directly to the source, where there 'learn how to fish' with it, then repay it so you only lose the time value of the money which on a 6 month term is 5% return maybe. So every thousand dollars you send only ends up costing 50 bucks. Now that's efficient welfare.

I just completed a loan for a woman who wished to expand he product line as well.