Kiva.org.. a sustainable organization

So I know this blog is supposed to be mainly about myself going green (which I will update my progress in the next post!) but highlighting companies and organizations that are not just in it for profit and see the need for being sustainable and being socially conscious and responsible are a passion of mine and one of the main reasons i am going into business. So this is the first installment of what i hope to be a weekly occurrence.

I would that you have figured out by now that the organization I am highlighting is Kiva. An organization who sets up micro-financing loans to entrepreneurs and small business owners in impoverished areas of the world. Such a cool idea. The company is run with a simple business model and this is how the lending cycle works:

To describe this better, first a lender (you) browses through all the profiles of entrepreneurs, pick one and pay your designated amount through paypal. Kiva then distributes that money to the entrepreneur. Over time the entrepreneur repays their loan to Kiva where then you can choose to reinvest into some other person's life, donate to Kiva or withdrawal your funds. Such a simple model.

On the Kiva website they describe their organization's purpose wonderfully and what we can do be a part of that. Give a loan.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Kiva borrowers already know how to fish. They just need a loan to buy a net.

This is helping people live sustainably.