Philanthropy

Yes, i think you can call Philanthropy a 25$ loan. that is exactly what i have "invested" in a Paraguay family through Kiva.org. Anibal and his family bake a special kind of cookie called "Pan de Miel". Then they employ 4 more people to sell them on the streets. With this they will be able to buy more ingredients, process more food, sell it on the market and pay back the loan, thus making a profit for themselves. Soon they will be self sufficient if they act wisely. hopefully they will hire more people in need to sell the bread on the streets. Find more about them here.

I think kiva.org is a wonderful organisation. It enables you and me to lend small amounts of money to entrepreneurs in need on the poorest countries around the globe. Yes, that is right LEND to ENTREPRENEURS to rise them from poverty. I love the idea! Why i like it? there are a few reasons. by lending money, i help poor people rise themselves out of poverty. this is not charity, this is empowerment. when the recipient pay the money back usually in around 1 year, i can choose to lend it again or get it back into my pocket. that is wonderful. the same money can be recycled and help many people many times over. I like it because is concrete, simple and touching. you know who you are lending to, you get updates on how their business is doing and the repayments, and through that you get to know the person or the family.

As me and my wife progress on our own businesses, we plan to keep investing in charity. the more money we make, the more we will invest. and kiva.org is the right investment vehicle for us. Don't get me wrong, you don't actually make money from the entrepreneurs, they don't pay interests, so is not actually an investment, but i like putting together the words investment and charity. i think that is the way to go about solving the problems of the world.

I encourage you to go ahead and lend to an entrepreneur of your choice through kiva.org.