Microfinance Institutions

This week we had student representatives for UNITUS and Kiva discuss microfinance.





We learned about UNITUS which was co-founded by Prof. Todd Manwaring. of the Marriott School. UNITUS primarily focuses on giving capital and consulting to potential borrowers in developing countries. MFIs (Microfinance Institutions) have served an estimated 100 million people but they estimate that there are 300-400 million more potential borrowers.

Another group of students represented Kiva. Kiva was founded in 2005 as the first person to person microfinance lending organization. (Even some of the biggest skeptics of development efforts by Western countries have recommended Kiva.) An estimated $100 million has been loaned through Kiva so far. The loans have 97.88% repayment rate. Visitors to the website can look at petitions for loans. They can loan anywhere between $25 and hundreds of dollars to the loans. The loans are typically repayed after about three to six months.

Kiva has a group of BYU students and alumni who can encourage each other to continue lending. In the near future, a specific lending team of SID members will be created allowing us to further become involved in this element of development.


Next week's meeting will feature a great new student organization: Students for Social Entrepreneurship a development club based in the Marriott School of Business.