Comment by akudha
2 hours ago
There is no profit/interest for lenders. I do it through kiva.org Kiva doesn't make the loans directly either - they partner with local organizations in the countries they operate in. Any interest these local orgs charge, is for their operating expenses. Lenders on Kiva do not get interest. There is also a chance of losing money if loans are defaulted, due to currency exchange loss etc (I have to check the exact amount, but I have lost some due to defaults)
https://www.kiva.org/about/how
I also tried a couple of other Microfinance orgs (can't remember the names now), but kept going back to Kiva. Been doing it for 15 years, so it slowly adds up, even though I wasn't consistent.
Thanks for reminding me of Kiva. I used to be big on it when I was younger. Just sent US$50 to a Liberian to fund her clothing business, hope it works out.
There is no profit/interest for lenders
That's what I expected. Thanks. Your wording: "made almost 68K for ~2900 loans" had me confused. Making money means profit or income to me. You didn't make any money but you helped 2900 people.
68k/25=2720. That suggests that the defaults are less than 10%. That's not so bad I think.
Ah, apologies for the bad wording :(
Your calculation is right (there were some loans that were refunded, so it is a bit higher than 2720). You could ask ChatGPT (or use Excel) for a quick calculation. $25 a month is such a small amount in the west, if anyone wants to do it (I did it inconsistently, some months $0 some months $200).
All this to show - a dollar goes a LONG way in parts of Asia, Africa etc.
Her entire 18-month master's program (tuition, registration, fees, books, supplies) comes to 3,060,000 TSh, about $1,161.
$1,161 - that is a shockingly small amount for a 18 month master's program!
Another org I admire is https://watsi.org/ Costs listed there is so small (compared to the west) that every dollar can help