Memorandum
To: Prof. Maj Britt-Kimm
From: Carol Jacoby
Date: November 18, 2012
Re: Kiva Non-Market Analysis Kiva is a non-profit microfinance facilitating organization. The key elements of the Kiva organization are the lenders, recipients, local microfinance organizations and the worldwide reaching internet. Kiva was the first organization to formally connect one person directly to another for lending money. Many organizations already in existence worked to collect funds from various people and use it for assisting needs of groups and individuals in undeveloped countries. Many even provide a face to the supporter, such as the Christian Children’s Fund. Kiva took the connection to a new level using the internet and microfinance organizations in the countries of the borrowers.
Groups like WAGES and Opportunity Fund serve in local communities and work directly with the borrowers. They offer various methods of support to the borrowers and are the face of the financing for the borrower. Kiva monitors, evaluates and rates them for transparency to its lenders. They include analysis on things like average loan size, default rates, and currency exchange loss rates. This allows Kiva to ensure that the funds being lent are being managed in the best possible way, even though the loans are high risk. Kiva is doing a pretty good job at monitoring their field partners with these current methods. They should continue to do this and look for ways to further support them.
In order for Kiva to grow it is essential that the borrowers are successful, they need the support from field partners to achieve success. Thus, the key to Kiva’s future growth is support to their field partners, including sufficient lenders to finance activities. It’s difficult to understand what support the field partners need without asking them the question. This is what Kiva should do for the field partners, ask them what further help they need and work to provide it. It might be things as small as more computers that could be sponsored charitable contributions from large US organizations. It might be further education and training that could be gained from organizing training teams to