{"id":3672,"date":"2008-08-25T04:23:58","date_gmt":"2008-08-25T09:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/25\/people-helping-people\/"},"modified":"2008-08-25T04:23:58","modified_gmt":"2008-08-25T09:23:58","slug":"people-helping-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/?p=3672","title":{"rendered":"People Helping People"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Healthy Wealthy<\/a> nWise<\/div>\n

Microfinance. It’s a big, fancy word for tiny loans. These tiny loans have become big business in recent years, though. Matt Flannery had never heard of microloans a few short years ago, but his wife Jessica would change that. Together, they’re making the world a better place through a company called Kiva.<\/p>\n

Microfinance is a concept that was started by Muhammad Yunus, an economics professor in Bangladesh. Living in such a poor country, he saw the need to loan people as little as $50 to help them get on their feet with a small business. Banks don’t make such loans, and these people have no collateral.<\/p>\n

Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank to help fund these microloans, and for his efforts, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. In 2004, Jessica Flannery saw an announcement from Stanford University that Yunus would be in town to speak one Wednesday night, so she convinced her (then) fianc Matt to attend with her. The decision would change their lives forever.<\/p>\n

Back then, Matt was still making software for TiVo. He’d never heard of microfinance, but he attended the event for Jessica’s sake. What the two of them learned started the gears turning in their minds. They knew there was something they could do to help others around the world. They brainstormed for a year before Kiva’s launch.<\/p>\n

During their newlywed year, Jessica spent several months in Africa. Matt decided to join her, and the experience shocked him. In America, $5 million<\/a> loans are the norm for a business. In Africa, usually $500 or less is all that is needed to start a seamstress business or open a bicycle repair shop.<\/p>\n

The drive to own a business and better your family’s life is just as strong whether you’re in a rich country or a poor one. Matt was an aspiring entrepreneur<\/a> himself, so he immediately saw how much he had in common with the people he interviewed.<\/p>\n

One night back in America, Matt and Jessica were tired of brainstorming, so they jumped at the opportunity to build a website. They had heard so much negativity from people, but they knew Kiva would be something in which they could take pride.<\/p>\n

Today, www.Kiva.org is more successful than anyone dreamed it would be. In two years, loans totaling more than $25 million have been given to over 250,000. The money comes from individuals who can loan as little as $25. They choose who gets the loan based on detailed profiles and updated reports. When the money is repaid, lenders are free to keep their money or re-loan it to someone else. Little people can now have a hand in changing the world.<\/p>\n

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About the Author:<\/div>\n
Matt Flannery<\/a> has followed in the footsteps of Muhammad Yunus in creating loans for people in poverty-stricken countries. Go to Matt Flannery<\/a> to learn how Kiva.Org utilizes the idea of microfinancing<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Microfinance. It’s a big, fancy word for tiny loans. These tiny loans have become big business in recent years, though. Matt Flannery had never heard of microloans a few short years ago, but his wife Jessica would change that. Together, they’re making the world a better place through a company called Kiva.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1752,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[77],"class_list":["post-3672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1752"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}