In late 2004, at 2:00 am on a chilly San Francisco morning, Matt Flannery, founder of Kiva.org, phoned his wife in Africa. Only recently married, Jessica had announced the day before the wedding that she wanted to go and live in Africa and learn about microlending. Matt said he wanted to live in San Francisco and start a business – preferably an online business. So in keeping with their desires, Jessica headed straight to Africa and Matt found himself living the life of a bachelor in a San Francisco mission. When Matt called Jessica that chilly morning, it was a phone call that would change his life forever. After only a few hours’ sleep and inspired by his conversation with Jessica about the poverty in Africa, Matt awoke and wrote the business plan for Kiva.org – an online business that lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can sponsor a business and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence.
Fast Forward three years….
The Gorret Nambeera’s Group I loaned $25 dollars to through kiva.org has made their first repayment. If I remember correctly the amount they asked for was around $1600 and between a group of unknown strangers from around the world (you can see them all on the site), Gorret Nambeera’s Group managed to raise the much needed finances.
Below is an extract of the email that I received.
Dear Carl Lindgren,
The business you have loaned to, Gorret Nambeera’s Group, has made a repayment of $138.00. The total amount repaid is now $138.00. This
repayment will be divided amongst all the lenders who helped to fund this business, depending upon the percentage each lender contributed.
Please note that these funds will not be credited to your Kiva account until the loan is repaid in full or when the loan term is complete. At
that time, you will be able to withdraw these funds from Kiva or to re-lend these funds to a new entrepreneur. To view your Kiva loan portfolio go to kiva.org
Best wishes,
Kiva Staff
I have to think … the world is changing slowly in an amazing way 
I just helped a Pig Farm in Indonesia
(Thanks Carl)
cool
nice work Dan. Amazing how it works. If everyone does a little bit, I’m pretty confident the world would be a much fairer place. I was thinking about how carbon offsetting works … wonder if there is a way we can human offset (sounds odd) the world when it comes to the basics - clean water, shelter, health, education etc … I’m sure there is. I think Kiva is a start.