Club with Ecomonkey on KIVA

Here at Ecomonkey, we are fans of KIVA, the microfinance website that supports entrepreneurs and others seeking loans across the world. In the last year or so we have made 15 loans. The individual sums we have loaned are quite modest, but this is because each loan is split up to reduce any one lender's risk. This is analogous to the developed world's increasingly popular web-lending tool Zopa.

We've a few more dollars left in the bank that we are poised to loan, to which we plan to add the revenues from our green search engine tool WeeGreen.co.uk. To make this more fun, we have set up an Ecomonkey Club on KIVA, so that if you are a user you may join the club and loan as part of Ecomonkey.

KIVA, like other microfinance institutions, helps bridge the gap that exists in lending to small businesses in developing countries. But it's also a great concept because it allows you to connect to the people you are lending to.

With KIVA you don't get any interest on your loan, but over time you should get all or most of your money back (delinquency rates - what a horrible term - are quite low). You can then loan the money again, or withdraw it. By any accounts it is better than leaving your money in a 0.5% interest account or under the proverbial mattress.

Here's a link to Edisa's story. Edisa was works as a saleswoman while her husband works as a musician and does beekeeping. This is their second loan that they will use to buy more bees.