Help Entrepreneurs at the Edge with Kiva

My Blog Coach Denise Wakeman is on to something very cool with her Big Five O Challenge!

Yes, she is celebrating her 50th birthday, not by getting presents, but by giving donations to support Entrepreneurs with micro-loans that help people get the leverage and the loan to make it happen.

We're talking about micro-loans, say US $25 for the lender, but which are macro-loans and major financing for the borrower in Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Kenya, Samoa, Pakistan, or wherever your beneficiaries may be.

I became so excited by this method for supporting Entrepreneurs at the Edge, sometimes of survival, that I joined Denise's challenge, and joined Kiva, the organization that makes this both possible and easy.

Help me support the Toub Kolab Group of 4 women in Cambodia who have banded together in a support group. You can go directly to this group also by clicking on their photo in the box at the left which reads, Make a loan, Change a life.

Once you sign up for an account on Kiva, you can search for groups and individual entrepreneurs around the world, searching by region, cause, level of repayment, and a number of other factors. These are real people facing real challenges that you can easily support with a payment through PayPal.

This is not a donation. It is a loan. And micro-loans have a remarkably high rate of repayment. Moreover, you can check the repayment schedule and performance of any group online, as well as get profiles and interviews with many of the groups that personalize the story even further.

What happens when your loan is repaid? You can either withdraw the money, or reloan it to another group of your choice. You can also see who else is loaning to and supporting that group. And like Denise, you can form groups to help you achieve or celebrate a cause. How cool is that?

This is socially responsible social media at it's best!

Yep, I learned about it by following Denise on her Twitter account @DeniseWakeman.

Help me to help Denise to help other Entrepreneurs at the Edge. Once you set it up, it can become as natural as breathing.

Thank you Denise, for opening a window on this for the rest of us!

Important P.S.! Here is what's even more cool!

The Toub Kolab Group achieved their loan within 24 hours of my making the original post, thanks to the group efforts of people on our team each putting in a little bit of thier time and money to give this team of Cambodian entrepreneur ladies the support they needed. You can still follow their progress by clicking on the links above.

But you'll notice that the Kiva box in the left hand column now features a new group, which as donator you can select to highlight on your own website. Once that group achieves thier loan request, you can  recommend another group. Putting the spotlight on a particular group and letting your followers know about it increases their chances of achieving their loan request, because there are thousands of loan requests on the Kiva site. 

When the loan is repaid, you get your money back. You can then withdraw your funds from PayPal, reinvest it to support another group, or simply continue to promote the cause while you follow the group(s) that you have chosen to support. Or you can do like Denise did, and form your own lending group to support a cause as a team.

Not only is this a good thing to do in itself, but it is also an investment in your social media presence and personal brand. Letting people know what you stand for is a lot better than just promoting yourself. Wouldn't it be nice if more people got that idea and shifted their stance from talking about themselves, to helping others?

Comments

[Stephanie Calahan - Productive & Organized - We'll help you find your way! (tm)]

I could not agree more! I have seen Denise's kiva button on her blogs for a while, but put off really doing anything. Her birthday gift gave me the motivation to sign up and make my first loan. SO easy!!

Congratulations on taking the step too. Feels great doesn't it?
To your success!
Stephanie
@StephCalahan

[watch friends online]

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Love to read more from you on the topic above