Subject category:
Economics, Politics and Business Environment
Published by:
Stanford Business School
Version: 19 November 2009
Length: 4 pages
Data source: Published sources
Abstract
After hearing a talk by Muhammad Yunis, a Bangladeshi Economist, about an innovative program to provide loans to beggars, Jessica Jackley Flannery became convinced that microfinance ''was the coolest thing in the world.'' In 2004 she and her husband, Matt Flannery, went to Africa and began discussing how they could contribute to microfinance. In October 2005 they ran a pilot Internet trial with eight Ugandan entrepreneurs. The couple sent an email to people on their wedding guest list announcing the opportunity to lend - over the weekend all eight entrepreneurs were fully funded. The duo also sent out a press release that was posted on Daily Kos, and $10,000 was raised in one day. The first person-to-person micro-lending organization had been born. This case describes Kiva''s operations and introduces the challenges that the organization faced as it pondered growth.
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Abstract
After hearing a talk by Muhammad Yunis, a Bangladeshi Economist, about an innovative program to provide loans to beggars, Jessica Jackley Flannery became convinced that microfinance ''was the coolest thing in the world.'' In 2004 she and her husband, Matt Flannery, went to Africa and began discussing how they could contribute to microfinance. In October 2005 they ran a pilot Internet trial with eight Ugandan entrepreneurs. The couple sent an email to people on their wedding guest list announcing the opportunity to lend - over the weekend all eight entrepreneurs were fully funded. The duo also sent out a press release that was posted on Daily Kos, and $10,000 was raised in one day. The first person-to-person micro-lending organization had been born. This case describes Kiva''s operations and introduces the challenges that the organization faced as it pondered growth.
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