Kiva Facts
07/31/2009
Kiva is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, incorporated in November 2005. "Kiva" is a Swahili word which means "unity" or "agreement". Kiva is the world's first online micro-lending platform. Kiva was co-founded by Matt and Jessica Flannery, when they were 28 and 27 respectively.
Previously, Kiva CEO and Co-Founder Matt Flannery was an engineer at Tivo. Premal Shah, Kiva President, was a product manager at PayPal. PayPal provides Kiva with free payment processing. Kiva's is the first account at PayPal with a free payment processing agreement. The minimum amount that can be loaned to an entrepreneur on Kiva is $25.
Kiva partners with microfinance institutions around the world, referred to on the Kiva website as Field Partners. Recipients of a Kiva Loan are referred to as "entrepreneurs", contributors to a Kiva Loan are referred to as "Kiva Lenders". Anyone with an email address can create a Kiva Account. Anyone who can make payments using a credit card or PayPal account can be a Kiva Lender. Currently, Kiva Lenders can only receive 0% interest on their loan. Kiva hopes to allow Field Partners to offer non-zero interest rates to Kiva Lenders. Kiva is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Kiva currently employs 34 full-time staff members.
Kiva Fast Facts
- 42 months old
- 157 countries represented
- Total value of all loans made through Kiva: $67,273,285
- Number of Kiva Lenders: 474,247
- Number of entrepreneurs funded 156,281
- Number of loans that have been funded through Kiva: 96,325
- Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs: 77.84%
- Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with): 94
- Number of countries Kiva Field Partners are located in: 44
- Current repayment rate (all partners): 97.97%
- Current default rate (all partners): 2.03%
- Average loan size (This is the average amount loaned to an individual Kiva Entrepreneur. Some loans - group loans - are divided between a group of borrowers.): $422.50
- Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds): $142.13
- Average number of loans per Kiva Lender: 3.94