Happy 2012 everyone. Now start changing the world, will you?

Since we kicked off our Kiva microfinance project "Change Starts Here" in November 2008, our Kiva Lending Team has already funded over 1,500 projects, for a total value of US$54,000. Check out our project score card on our Have Impact! blog.

In 2011, I had a wide range of sponsors for the blogs I manage. After deducting the running costs for my blogs, I want to invest the left-over funds in our microfinance project "Change Starts Here" . Seems like a good way to start 2012 off on a good footing!

So, from January 1 to 15, I will run a promotion campaign for AidJobs, my newest blog, while helping to boost our micro finance projects. How? Pretty simple:

• For every comment left on this blogpost, I will donate US$5.
  Just leave your name and where you live. Add any wishes you have for a better world in 2012.
• For every new Twitter follower on @AidJobs, I will donate US$5.
  (we're starting at 147 followers)
• For every new "like" on our AidJobs Facebook page, I will donate US$5.
  (we're starting at 22 likes)
• For every new Email subscription, I will donate US$5.
  (we're starting at 4 subscriptions)

Again, the end date is midnight January 15, and all funds go to our Kiva micro finance projects. A good way to start 2012, no?

Over the next weeks, I will publish updates on this blog post.

Happy New Year everyone!

Peter

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Our microfinance project now passed the $40,000 mark

Remember we started "Change Starts Here", our microfinancing project, here on the Road?

Well, in two years, our Kiva lending team grew to 82 people, who issued over 1,000 loans, for a total value of $42,000... Not bad, hey?

The latest loan was issued to Sobirahon Ahmadalieva (on the left on the picture) in Aravan, Kyrgyzstan. Sobirahon breeds cattle for resale after fattening. In this way she earns about $85 per month. With her microfinance loan of $1,066 she wants to purchase two bull calves for breeding.

We funded 10% of her loan request, which she will pay back over the course of the next 18 months.

The scorecard overview of our project, you can find on Have Impact.

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The story of Claudia Martinez

For those of you who are not following Have Impact!, my blog about our social project:

This newspaper article published in a Dubai newspaper prompted to an interesting story about how doing good to others will bring good to you.

Full story here.

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Wrap-up of our Philippines fundraiser

After the Philippines was hit by two consecutive typhoons, I started a project to raise the awareness of both the scale of the devastation and the impact it had on individual people. At the same time, I wanted to mobilize people to issue microfinance loans to entrepreneurs in the Philippines.

I described the devastation and outline the project on the kickoff post, asking people to comment. I committed to raise $5 per comment left on that post. Little did I know how it would take off.

Last night was the fundraising deadline. In about 11 days time, the post received 1,211 comments (!). That is good enough for US$6,055. Needless to say that on the 1st anniversary of Change Starts Here, The Road's social project, I could not be more proud...

It probably could not have been more timely, as sadly this weekend, a third typhoon hit the Philippines.

While, for the Philippines project, we allocated already over $4,400 new loans (check here, here and here), in the past year the 76 members of our Kiva lenders team issued US$21,000 in microfinance loans to 520 different people all over the world (check the score card).

To change is possible! Why don't you join our Kiva Lenders team too?

Picture courtesy WFP Logistics

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Our microfinance project runs as a train

In between the negativity of the tragic news of bombings in Islamabad and Peshawar this week, the continuing earthquakes and floods in Asia, the droughts in East Africa, and warnings of upcoming floods in Africa later this year, here is a bit of positive news.

Almost a year ago, I used The Road to the Horizon to kick off "Change Starts Here", our micro finance project.

Little did I know that 11 months later, the project would take that high a flight... I started it as an "I need to do more" project, donating $1 for each comment on the kickoff post.

Soon, colleagues at work joined, and we held several evening dinners, where people contributed to the project.

Then friends from our Antarctic expedition team joined in, and brought the total to over US$3,000.

From time to time, an individual stepped up and had the project take a leap. Like Ekram who asked people to allocate a loan to Kiva as a birthday present, rather than gifts. Just this week, another Friend joined and gave US$300 from her mission allowance to these loans.

Our Kiva Lenders team gradually expanded to 25 active members who have contributed US$4,614 to date.

As time went by, Kiva entrepreneurs paid back loans to us, which we reinvested. The total of re-allocated loans comes to US$5,141.

In May, I started a new blog, Have Impact!, where I post all updates and new loans.

The project has issued over 300 loans, for a total value of US$14,475. Our Kiva lenders team has 25 members. Not bad, after 11 months, hey?

As we will soon celebrate the one year anniversary of our project, I am preparing a small competition and fundraiser. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, check out the project score card. Join our Kiva team.

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We raised $1,000 in a day!

Joice Dodo in Juba (Sudan), wanted to expand her bread baking business to build a house she wants to rent out. We loaned her $50 via Kiva's micro financing scheme.
She is one of the loans we issued today:

Today, we gave these loans on behalf of Bex (as a birthday present for "E")
- Lina in Lebanon: $50
- Dao Thi Sau in Vietnam: $50
- Joice Dodo in Sudan: $50

Temmy and other team member of our Kiva Lending team chipped in more, so in a span of only 24 hours, we raised

$1,000

for loans on our Kiva micro financing project... We are now just a breath away from $10,000. Who would have thought this was possible when we started "Change Starts Here", only six months ago?

Follow the progress of our project on our scorecard, and why not join our lender's team?

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More micro finance loans

Susan Edward from Juba in Southern Sudan is 28 years old and married to a teacher. She has two children who are in school. Susan sells green vegetables at the market and is requesting a loan to open a shop.

We gave her a micro finance loan of $50.

This is one of the new loans we gave as part of $400 raised at the birthday party of my friend "E", who also wrote this short story on The Road.

"E" preferred not to receive gifts for her birthday, but asked for people to donate to our Change Starts Here project.

Ester was one of the people who stepped forward.

Thanks to Ester and "E", we financed these projects:
- Grace Elunai in Sudan: $50
- "Women in Need" group in Sierra Leone: $100
- Mimania Edward in Sudan: $50
- Susan Edward in Sudan: $50
- Rena Hasanova in Azerbayijan: $25
- Enero Women in Paraguay: $75
- Rubelyn Lumanta in Philippines: $50

Follow the progress of our project on our scorecard

With a big thanks again to Ester and "E"!

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Change Starts Here: We just broke the $7,000 mark!

W00T! With the funds collected during a small group lunch, re-investment of repaid loans and more loans given by our Kiva lenders' team, we just flew past the $7,000 mark on our social project.

Our latest micro finance loans went to Afghanistan, Philippines, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Bolivia, Uganda and Ukraine.

One of them was Irina Tatarchook (picture) in the Ukraine. Irina wanted to expand her assortment of flower offerings in her market stall. We gave her a loan of $50.

Check out our project score card.

The background of this project, you find in the kick-off post.

The latest project news tid-bits, you can also find The Road's discussion forum.

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The end of world poverty as we know it. Or not yet?

Faithful readers from The Road know of our blog's social project we started back in November. We fund microfinance projects via Kiva, an online non-for-profit "brokerage" service between those in need of a micro finance loan and those willing to fund them.

Over the past months, readers from The Road, friends, friends of friends, and colleagues jumped in, and joined our Kiva lenders' team. At this moment, we total over $6,400 of loans (Check here for the latest status)

The system seems to work well, and after the initial investment in loans, the repayments started to come in two months after the first loan. At this moment, about US$2,000 of loans have been repaid.

It seems Kiva's success caught on real fast. This week alone, they allocated US$1.8 million of microfinance loans. Quite impressive, if you consider that a typical loan is given in chunks of $25.

Kiva's success is that big that often, like tonight, you log onto their site, and... they have ran out of people to allocate loans to.

A bit frustrating, knowing that at this moment I am 'sitting' on $600 of repaid loans I would like to reinvest, but on the other hand, their success and apparent efforts to keep up with the success of microfinancing, and particularly success of the brokerage-system of Kiva, shows a difference can be made.

As I am, right now, looking at the screen of the lenders page, searching for people to allocate loans to, I only see grey'd-out fields of entrepreneurs with the remark 'Fully Funded', I am thinking of the song of John Lennon. And "imagine" that maybe that will be, one day, the status of poverty in the world. "We are sorry, but we no longer have people in need".

Call me a dreamer.

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More microfinance loans, from Togo to Nicaragua

Yiepee! We're now totalling US$5,850 on our social project.

We just got $500 refunded from previous loans and reallocated them to new microfinance loans for Kiva entrepreneurs:

- Hilda Bermejo in Peru (Party Supplies): $50
- Yawa Ameganvi in Togo (Sewing machine): $50
- Paulina in Peru (Food stocks): $50
- Evangelista Carranza in Nicaragua (supply tocks): $50
- Shabana Zafar women in Pakistan (Supply stocks): $100
- Uzma khanum women in Pakistan (Tailoring): $100
- Irshad Bashir women in Pakistan (Bakery stocks): $100

Follow the progress on our scorecard!

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Our Kiva project 13: Bliquis Aziz

Here is a summary of The Road's 13th social project:

A micro-financing loan to the Bliquis Aziz's Women's Group in Pakistan.

Bilquis baji lives in Pakpattan, Pakistan. The city is famous for its shrine of great Punjabi Sufi poet, Babar Fareed Ganj Shakkar.

Bliquis baji is the mother of two sons, both of whom are auto-rickshaw drivers (the local three-wheeled motor vehicle). She is a housewife but applies for a loan to buy another rickshaw for her eldest son, so that he able to increase his profits as a transit driver.

This is a group loan, and she is joined in her request by four other members. The loan funds will be distributed among the group members, each of whom will invest in their own business:
- Kaneez baji wants a loan to buy a mirror and chair for her beauty salon.
- Zafran baji also wants a loan to buy a rickshaw.
- Mukhtayar baji wants a loan to buy tools for her vehicle repair workshop.
- Saima baji wants a loan to buy cigarettes for her cigarette selling business.

The members mutually guarantee one another's loans. If one member does not repay, the other members are responsible. (See also the group's full profile on Kiva)

This loan goes through "Asasah", the local micro financing partner of Kiva.

Loan Request: $900
Repayment terms: 11 months (Deadline Dec 15 2009)
We gave them a loan of US$100

This is The Road's 13th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.


More on The Road's social project "Change Starts Here".
You can keep track of our project via our score card.

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"Change Starts Here" broke the $5,000 mark!

"Change Starts Here", our blog's social project just broke the $5,000 mark!

Tonight, we received a series of repayments on loans we previously made and reinvested them in the following new Kiva micro financing projects:

- Kamil Akhmadov in Azerbaijan: $50 (purchase of two calves)
- Marcia Mejia Women in the Dominican Republic: $25 (expand shop inventory)
- Lim Vuthea Women in Cambodia: $50 (repair of their house)
- Evelyn Dionela in the Philippines : $50 (purchase of a freezer to store the food she sells)
- Altantsetseg Duden in Mongolia: $50 (expand the assortment of books she sells in her store)
- Norma Andia Conga Women in Peru: $50 (expand the variety of items in stock for their stores)
- Khayyam Tagiyev in Azerbaijan : $50 (spare parts for his taxi)
- Laure Agbogbe in Togo: $50 (expand her cosmetics business)

We also welcome Mark, from Toronto-Canada as our 14th Kiva team member.

You can follow the progress of our project on our scorecard or join in the discussions on our discussion forum

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Our Kiva project #11: Maria Castillo

Here is a summary of The Road's 11th social project:

A micro-financing loan to Maria España Ugaz Castillo in Peru.

Maria belongs to the "Mujeres Perseverantes" ("Persevering Women") Communal Bank, in the Calleria district, the region of Ucayali (Peru). She is 52 and has three grown children.

She has been working with the Communal Bank for 2 years and invested her first loan ($100) into the sale of cooked beans. The investment has increased her sales and she has been blessed with an ever expanding number of clients.

Today, she sells a wider variety of regional bean dishes. She gets up at 3 a.m. to cook so that her dishes will be ready for sale in the Micaela Bastidas market by 6 a.m.

With this new loan of $400, she will buy 15 kilos of beans. (See also Maria's full profile on Kiva)

This loan goes through "Manuela Ramos / CrediMUJER", the local micro financing partner of Kiva.

Loan Request: $400
Repayment terms: 4 months (Deadline Apr 15 2009)
We gave her a loan of US$50

This is The Road's 11th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.


More on The Road's social project "Change Starts Here".
You can keep track of our project via our score card.

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Micro-financing, the snowball effect

Our blog's social project, allocating micro-finance loans through Kiva, contributed to a success story it seems:

Up to date, Kiva allocated loans worth a total of $56,393,860 to entrepreneurs around the world.
Only this week, 3,299 businesses were funded. 14,000 lenders gave over $1,000,000 of loans. Again: in ONE week.

To date, we fundraised $3,725 on our blog and the Road's team members contributed another $585 directly.
The people we gave loans to already paid back $482, a sum I'm allocating to new micro-entrepreneurs in the developing world.

The Road's lenders team now has 11 members (Alexander in Canada was the latest to join in. - Welcome Alexander!)

The Kiva project is that big a hit that today they ran out of projects to be funded: "Currently, we are experiencing a traffic spike and all previously fundraising loans have been fully funded."

The snowball effect of doing good...

Follow the progress of The Road's Kiva project and join the project's discussion thread on our discussion forum.

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The Road- Kiva project 12: Quirudis Altagracia

Here is a summary of The Road's 12th social project:

A micro-financing loan to
the Quirudis Altagracia Women
in the Dominican Republic.

The leader of this group, Quirudis Altagracia, is an experienced and confident businesswoman. She owns and operates a successful grocery store located in her community, Guanuma, in Yamasa (Dominican Republic).

About a year ago, she received a loan to strengthen her business, allowing her to restock her store, adding new products which were in high demand in her neighborhood.

With profits from her business, Quirudis was able to start the concrete foundation for her house. She would like to expand her business to finish her house construction, and to support her family.

Quirudis is joined in her group by: Santa Acevedo Henrique, a high-spirited and hard-working woman who sells women's clothing; Silvestrina Mariano, who operates a fruit stand; and Yocelin Estevez and Miliota Milien, who sell clothing and underwear in the neighborhood.

The photo shows from left to right: Santa, Quirudis, Silvestrina, Yocelin and Miliota. (See also the group's full profile on Kiva)

This loan goes through "Fundación San Miguel Arcángel", the local micro financing partner of Kiva.

Loan Request: $1,525
Repayment terms: 5 months (Deadline June 15 2009)
We gave her a loan of US$50

This is The Road's 12th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.


More on The Road's social project "Change Starts Here".
You can keep track of our project via our score card.

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An update on our micro-finance project

Today, I allocated the final balance for the funds raised via the "Change Starts Here" kick-off post.

I also re-invested US$141 received as repayments for loans we gave in the past two months.

The loans given today were:

1. Olawuni Emmanuel in Nigeria: $25 to increase stocks in her shop.
2. Tinuke Tajudeen in Nigeria: $50 to increase her soft drinks stock in her shop.
3. Mery in Peru: $50 for her shop's beauty product stocks.
4. Samon Chork Women in Cambodia: $75 to buy more cattle.
5. Hermelinda Sinarahua in Peru: $50 for more food ingredients for her small restaurant.
6. Mawusse Attila in Togo: $50 for her shop's stock increase.
7. Khalida Parveen Women in Pakistan : $100 for the repair of a rikshaw, a new donkey cart, and different tools.
8. Nupcia Suarez in Nicaragua: $50 for a fence around her home so she can live more secure.
9. Luaiva Tiamamana in Samoa: $50 to start her ice-cake business.
10. Magdalena in Peru: $50 to increase the stocks of her shop.
11. Sharofat Turaqulova in Tajikistan: $50 to buy a new stock of winter clothing for her shop.

I am also happy to announce the other Road's team members have now allocated $350 of loans by themselves. The snowball effect.

Don't just sit there! Join our Kiva lending team. It takes 10 minutes and you can allocate loans as small as $25 to any project you like. There is no overhead, you pay via your credit card, and when loans are repaid, they are repaid to YOU and not to the team.

Monitor our project's progress on our score card.
Join the "Change Start Here"-thread in our discussion forum.

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Rumble: Kiva Rocks!

Just got a mail from Kiva... The people we have allocated loans to through our blog's social project have started repaying.
We received a total of $55.11:

• Quirudis Altagracia Ortiz Cordonis's Group in Dominican Republic (Activity: Grocery Store)
  Our Loan:$50.00
  Newly Repaid:$8.33 (16.66% of our loan)
• Maria España Ugaz Castillo in Peru (Activity: Food Production/Sales)
  Our Loan:$50.00
  Newly Repaid:$12.50 (25.00% of our loan)
• Sopheap Chun's Group in Cambodia (Activity: Agriculture)
  Our Loan:$100.00
  Newly Repaid:$7.44 (7.44% of our loan)
• Kim Houy Lach's Group in Cambodia (Activity: Poultry)
  Our Loan:$100.00
  Newly Repaid:$3.89 (3.89% of our loan)
• Ganna Shkirta in Ukraine (Activity: Fruits & Vegetables)
  Our Loan:$50.00
  Newly Repaid:$6.25 (12.50% of our loan)
• Francis Jamilett Areas Vivas's Group in Nicaragua (Activity: Retail)
  Our Loan:$100.00 (12.53% of our loan)
  
• Mao Kung in Cambodia (Activity: Pigs)
  Our Loan:$50.00
  Newly Repaid:$4.17 (8.34% of our loan)
  

The funds are now available as Kiva Credit, which we can re-lend! More work to do :-)

Check out our Project Score Card

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Rumble: The Road's Kiva project 10: Lien Thi Nguyen

Here is a summary of The Road's 10th social project:

A micro-financing loan to Nguyen Thi Lien in Vietnam.

Lien Thi Nguyen is 22, and been participating in Kiva's local micro-financing fund since 2002. Her family's main source of income is raising livestock and her husband's construction work.

With an income of 3,500,000 VND (+- US$200) per month, the family's finances are becoming more stable day by day. With her new loan, Lien will buy one cow to raise, and invest in a wheat harvesting machine to provide a service for the local people. (See also Lien's full profile on Kiva)

This loan goes through "TYM fund", the local micro financing partner of Kiva.

Loan Request: $725
Repayment terms: 11 months (Deadline Nov 15 2009)
We gave her a loan of US$50

This is The Road's 9th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.


More on The Road's social project "Change Starts Here".
You can keep track of our project via our score card.

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Rumble: We bought chickens, cows, pigs and farming tools today...

"Change Starts Here", our blog's social project raised US$3,947 so far. Not bad hey?!

$64 were raised in comments via our kick off post.

Our Kiva lenders' team has grown to 9 people!

Today we allocated another $1,000 set of loans to people in Cambodia, Peru, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Bolivia and Samoa.
With this loan we concentrated on women active in agriculture. Our loans micro-financed calves, seedlings, chickens, fuel for an farming pump, fertilizer, guinea pigs, cows, building material and farming tools...

Check out our score card for an overview.

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Rumble: Everyone likes cupcakes

Change Starts Here, our blog's social project uses Kiva to allocate small loans to individual entrepreneurs in developing countries.

In this post I describe the project.

If you want a more humorous version of my appeal, you gotta read this hilarious article in Time where Joel in the States matches up his funding with Freddy, the baker, in Nicaragua and decides the latter should go global with his cupcake production. Enjoy!

More on The Road about Kiva, our social project and micro-financing.

Picture courtesy Time

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