Paul Monaco .org

One of my 43Things was to not procrastinate.  Having some funds sitting in my Kiva account now for a few days I decided that I should should re-loan that money out.  Natalya’s profile quickly caught my eye, and the more I read the more confident I became in thinking that here’s a person that’s on the cusp of going from barely surviving to earning a comfortable living. 

Natalya had a good business sense about her, being very aware of seasonal market conditions and focusing on a narrow demographic in children’s clothing. 

Being married and having just one child leave her in a position where she, with help from her husband can manage their time in such a way to handle their business and personal lives.

This is my second Kiva loan, and my experience has been absolutely positive.  If you can afford to lend out as little as $25, I strongly encourage you to do so.  When the load is paid back you have the option of having it returned to you, donate it to Kiva or re-loan it to another business.

As a Buddhist I believe in making good cause to receive great benefit.  Kiva is an organization that helps you do that in a really easy way.

Many entreprenuers in developing or poverty stricken areas have a great deal of difficulty securing capital to reinvest into their businesses to foster growth.  Sometimes it’s due to a lack of established credit, other times the amount needed is so low that large financial institutions don’t find this a profitable venture.

In May 2007 I used Kiva to help out Maria Elena Cabral Guerrerawith a small loan to help her purchase inventory for her shoe sales business.  You can imagine how great this made me feel.  Though I’m generally a very charitable person, I suffer from being extremely skeptical of charitable organizations and even more skeptical of the people who seek assistance.  With Kiva, people who receive funds are fully expected to pay it back and they work hard to do so.. which is indicated by their 95% re-payment rate. 

Now that Maria has payed back her loan, the funds are marked as available.  In the next few days I’ll make another post and share with you how I re-invested and may actually take on an additional business to support.  What better way is there to kick off the Year Of Capable People and Development!