MICRO LOANS!

You Ask: What is a micro-loan?

we found this answer on wikipedia

Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to the unemployed, to poor entrepreneurs and to others living in poverty. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit. Microcredit is a part of microfinance, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services to the very poor.

Microcredit is a financial innovation that is generally considered to have originated with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.^[1] In that country, it has successfully enabled extremely impoverished people to engage in self-employment projects that allow them to generate an income and, in many cases, begin to build wealth and exit poverty.

We are dedicating this entire post to micro-loans. We will show you how to get involved, even if you don't have any money!  We think that micro-loans are a great way to fight poverty throughout the world. 

This is a video from Small Things Challenge 

This video gives you the basic idea behind Micro loans.  Check out the Small Things Challenge website.

This website gives you a chance to get involved even if you don't have money! Just click and Intel donates a quarter! Those quarters add up!

Below is a video from Kiva. We used Kiva's website to loan our $275.00 of "raking money" to a woman entrepreneur in Tajikistan. She is the owner of a clothing stand. When she finishes repaying the loan (she has almost finished paying) we can get the money back and keep it or we can re-loan it to another person in need. Our plan is to keep raising money for our Kiva account and keep making loans with it. 

Curious? Click here to see and learn about actual people who need loans. 

The smallest loan that you can make through Kiva is $25.00

To get started, go to their website and follow the instructions.

Here is some info we copied from their website: Kiva.org

What Is Kiva?

We Let You Loan to the Working Poor

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

Let us know what you think-Let us know if you get involved. Have questions? To contact us just click on the comments link below!