10 Good Questions with Kiva [Q&A]

Kiva stands by the adage of teaching a man to fish ensures that he eats for the rest of his life. Through microloans and microfinance institutions, Kiva has been the catalyst for helping individuals around the world become financially independent and self-sustaining. In this 10 Good Questions interview, we speak with communications manager Hania Abu-Eid to learn more about the life-changing work of Kiva and how the lending cycle works.

1. What is your organization’s mission?

Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.

2. What makes you guys different from the rest?

We empower people to multiply the impact of every dollar they dedicate to doing social good in the world. On Kiva, individuals can lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity for an entrepreneur, a student or a community. When they are repaid they can relend that money again and again to help more people achieve their dreams. To date we have more than 1.2 million Kiva lenders who have funded more than 1.6 million borrowers around the world with a 98.72% repayment rate.
We also welcome working with other change makers.  The more people and organizations we have dedicated to alleviating poverty and empowering entrepreneurs, the better! Part of Kiva’s success and impact is rooted in its focus on empowering and partnering with other innovative social enterprises around the world that are dedicated to addressing financial inclusion, poverty, atrocities of war, natural disasters, oppression, and even climate change. Kiva’s work is made possible by a worldwide network of microfinance institutions and nonprofits working in more than 80 countries.

3. Offices or open workspace?

We have an open workspace. We are also pet friendly!

4. What three words describe your organization?

Humble, Dedicated, Hopeful

5. What inspires you?

What inspires us the most are the stories we see from borrowers and lenders around the world. Stories of entrepreneurs who are using whatever they have to pull themselves out of poverty and create better lives for themselves. Single mothers using family recipes to support a better life for their children, elderly women nourishing their land as a means to survival, young men without formal education using their hands to create beautiful art work, sick individuals isolated from their communities using their experience to reduce ignorance. This is truly inspiring.
What is also just as inspiring, are the lenders and the community of people who are taking the time to connect and empower entrepreneurs by making a loan with true sincerity and compassion. They believe in a better world and are trying to help create it through their actions on Kiva.

6. What is the best part about your job?

The best part of our job is the actual progress we continue to see every day. One loan funded means progress; it means one individual has an opportunity, it can even help improve a community. The fact that our lenders continue to lend and that our borrowers continue to create is so reassuring and hopeful. It feels good to be optimistic and it feels good to have a community of millions of people sharing that same hope and belief that we can make the world better together.

7. Does your team eat lunch together?

We love lunch. Kiva team members frequently eat lunch together; many are even avid cooks and bakers. We even have a lunch club where people can take turns showing off their cooking skills and feast with other staff.

8. Facebook or Twitter?

Both! And Instagram too (kiva_microloans). We love any opportunity we get to connect with the Kiva community.

9. What do you want Goodnet users to know about your organization?

That Kiva is not just our organization, it’s theirs, it’s for everyone. We all have the power to contribute and connect with someone trying to make their life better and they can do so by lending on Kiva.org. We are an organization built by our lending community and entrepreneurs; the more people we have engaged, the greater the impact that can be made. Anything is possible.

10. How can people get involved?

Choose a borrower. Make a loan. Get repaid. Repeat! Learn more about how it works.