Author Archives: Our Locality

Earlier this year – or was it last year? – I got an email to participate in a short survey looking at the feasibility of a microfinance setup similar to Kiva, but operating in the UK. It seemed to me … Continue reading →

I’ve just lent $25 to Oyungerel. This is loan number 198, so only 2 more and I will have lent $5000 to small businesses and groups in the developing world. Here is Oyungerel’s spiel, though those veg look a bit too … Continue reading →

After several years of lending on Kiva – the micro finance website that helps small businesses get finance in the developing world – I am just five loans away from reaching my notional $5000 lending target. Check my stats and … Continue reading →

When someone offers you an incentive of say $25 to lend on Kiva, you might think there was a scam. Why would anyone give you money to lend out and then potentially take it back when it was repaid? I’ve … Continue reading →

Savers and investors alike have been stuck for choice since interest rates have languished at 0.5 per cent for now almost 3 years. So what to do? The problem for savers, unlike investors who can afford to lose their investment, … Continue reading →

Here at Kivaclub we are interested in numbers behind the current financial market madness. Why e.g. is it that Japan is so much more indebted than Italy, but can borrow at just 1%? The Economist stated somewhere that Italy is … Continue reading →

Five+ years of Kiva loan activity, in full color. Are you on the map?

The documentary film ‘To Catch A Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks On America’ follows the opening of the first American branch of the Grameen Bank, offering collateral-free loans to some of the poorest but most determined women in Queens, New York. … Continue reading →

Every so often, I get an email like the following from Kiva, the micro loans lending network, which gives me a summary of my loan repayments to date and opens up the option of re-lending and making my money work … Continue reading →