When The Shift Hits The Fan!

You might get hit and that's what happened to me.
and his Kiva team, , is joining forces once again to help out entrepreneurs in impoverished countries. Karl organized this last year and was kind enough to choose me to be the recipient of one of his gift certificates which of course, will pay forward as I make my loan and then purchase 2 gift certificates to give to members of my PLN. (My loan from last year was repaid 100%.)

Kiva allows individuals to contribute a small amount of money (as low as $25.00) that is then loaned to entrepreneurs in impoverished communities. When that loan is repaid (), then the individual that originally made the loan can .

Poor people in impoverished communities often don’t have access to financial institutions and capital, and . It is , who often are the key to raising families – and communities – out of poverty.

From the Kiva website:
You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

My two loans are:
1. To an entrepreneur named . They still need another $200.00 to complete their loan request of $625.00.
2. To who has been selling groceries for 2 years. She buys grocery items from Korki market for resale in front of her house. Her husband has been a farmer for 30 years. She is asking for a loan of $1,000 to purchase a motorcycle for commuting. She needs only $250.00 more to complete her load request.

I invite you to join and contribute however much possible to .

Join The Team

On Karl's suggestion, I've donated the value of his gift certificate along with the money from my loan last year which has been fully repaid. I also purchased two $25 that I will email to two members of my PLN asking them to do the same as I did:

1. Log in to .
   
2. Join (click on Community and search keyword, "shift").
   
3. Choose the entrepreneur to whom they will loan the value of the gift certificate.
4. Then consider doing the same thing I did - purchase two $25 gift certificates and email them to two members of their PLN with the same request to "pay it forward."

What can you do?

• Make a $25 loan yourself, or
• Do what I did; make a $25 loan, then purchase two $25 gift certificates and email them to folks you know and ask them to do the same, and/or
  
• If you’re a blogger, also consider blogging about this and making the same request to your readers.
  

Even if you can't contribute financially, if you can blog about this, send this info in an email or just tell your friends and get the word out, you are still contributing a great deal.