I used to...

I used to write about what I was doing to improve the state of the world.  I thought I could lead by example.  If I could do it, so could everyone else, right?

Ahkun.org - Connecting Kiva Entrepreneurs With The Global Marketplace

Kiva makes it uber easy to make loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries to help them expand their businesses and increase their quality of life (as well as grow the economy around them...). Akhun.org takes this process one step further by helping entrepreneurs find demand for their products by making them available to anyone with an internet connection and a credit card.

Ahkun is functioning as a non-prof (applied for, but has yet to be granted 'non prof' status) and as such gives their profits to the NGO who originally provided the loan to the entrepreneurs, Kiva.org (the company's founders' former employer), and a small portion will go back into Ahkun to help grow the business.

I like that not only do we have the opportunity to help fund people who need assistance, but we now are beginning to have the opportunity to give revenue to the very people whom we lent to. Ahkun is currently only operating in Cambodia, however I wonder how long it will before before this idea spreads.

I haven't seen much change on the Akhun website over the last few months, nor have they updated their blog in a while, but I have faith. I think that with enough persistence the idea will supersede any hesitation that is happening with Ahkun. So, perhaps in a few months or a year or two, we will see Ahkun grow, or we'll begin to find copy cats popping up all around the web :)

Check out Kakeda Sun - one of two current suppliers to Ahkun.org :)

March Loans

Neoun is a housewife and lives with her husband (shown below). He is a painter, and she helps him with this business by transporting the finished paintings to her husbands business contacts who help him sell his art. She is requesting a loan to buy a motorbike to help her more effectivly transport the paintings.

Fe runs a specialty store in the Phillipines. She is taking out this loan to expand her business. She is 65 years old and has four grown children. This is the second loan she has taken out - the first one helped her expand her business and improve her standard of living.

Serena Update

Remember Serena? I was excited to lend to her because she was my first loan in the US, she goes to SJSU, and she's a yoga instructor. She was requesting a loan to help her pay her school fees to get her personal trainer license.

Unfortunately the yoga studio that Serena was working out of closed it's doors, but due to some additional training she was able to get, she was able to work independently until she was able to find anther studio to work out of in Palo Alto.

And, even through tough times, Serena was able to make all of her loan payments on time. Extra kudos to her for having her stuff together :)

February Loans

Patricia is an owner of Maxwell's Senior Care Services. She immigrated to the united states in 1996 from England and has managed to go from working as an RN to managing her own company which helps to care for the elderly here in the south bay. She already has one part time employee to help with caring for her clients, and with this loan intends to hire a part time office administrator to help her build a website and increase her marketing efforts. Within three years she plans to have two full time employees.

Cynthia sells fish in Ghana. She has a junior high school education, and is working to put her children though school. With her loan of $500 she intends to expand her business to begin saving for her children's future school fees.

January Kiva Loans

The month of January is nearly gone, but fret not. Two Kiva loans were given out in due time. both of them went to Cambodia, merely by chance. They are as follows:

What caught my eye for this first loan was the first sentence: "Mr. Yun Sokun is a good father who has given birth to six children." Yes, I know this is just a silly grammatical error, but thought it to be quite humorous so that is how they won my attention. Yun Sokun is hoping to open a grocery store with his loan to help his big family live more comfortably.

My second loan went to Chiv Chroep. She sells fabric to people who are either redecorating their homes or making furniture to sell. She is requesting a loan to help her build more inventory so she can sell more goods for more of a profit. I chose to lend to her because she reminded me of my first loan that went to Koffe in Togo. I lent to him because he's selling cement to other entrepreneurs and therefore doing more good for the economy than the average person. Like Koffe, Chiv Chroep is selling to other entrepreneurs and therefore growing the economy from a greater vantage point.

Stats on Giving

From Mint.com's blog. Some interesting stats on giving.


budget planner – Mint.com