Recently in Entepreneur Stories Category

Tonight, something very special is happening at the Newport Beach Breakers tennis match. Ramon Delgado, a member of the team, will meet Bryan McDonald, a local small business owner, to celebrate the impact that Kiva has on the lives of entrepreneurs in Paraguay. Ramon is from Paraguay and Bryan has sponsored entrepreneurs in Paraguay through kiva.org. We applaud Bryan's commitment to help entrepreneurs in the developing world.

This is a cool idea for a company devoted to entrepreneurship. "This past December, Inc.com embarked on an editorial project to cover the rapidly growing phenomenon of microfinance. As a staff, we contributed a modest sum and became lenders on Kiva.org, sponsoring a diverse group of entrepreneurs that includes Phal An, as well as business owners located in Peru, Ecuador, Uganda, Tanzania, and Tajikistan. Updates on these entrepreneurs and their businesses and how they are using their loans are being posted frequently on a new Inc.com blog called "The Kiva Connection."

The most recent post is a great interview with a rice winemaker from Cambodia. Link here.

For anyone who followed Senerita's amazing journey to the US in April during the KivaB4B launch, this short video gives a powerful glimpse into her day to day life. It's quite moving. Enjoy. 

Of course, Inc. Magazine has a website and, of course, that website has a blog. It might be called Fresh Inc., but regardless it's their staff blog. Inc.com, in collaboration with Mansueto Ventures -- the company that publishes the print and online editions of Inc. and Fast Company -- sponsored some entrepreneurs through Kiva.  Tamara Schweitzer said, "I wanted to provide readers with as many details as possible about the day-to-day lives of small business owners in developing countries and how exactly access to microfinance was impacting their operations."

Many of my posts on this blog documented my travels and experiences with Senerita, a loan recipient from Samoa who came to the US to meet the woman who gave her a loan through Kiva. Tamara's post reminded me of why Kiva is so unique. Making a loan (or officially a grant) through Kiva is really a unique opportunity to feel the impact of your intention. Tamara's post provides a wonderful glimpse into the life of a loan recipient. I heartily recommend the post.

Click here for the jump.

In addition to about 8 other blogs to which she contributes (and one of the cooler names ever), Britt Bravo's 'Have Fun * Do Good' Blog has a great post linking to podcast interviews with 30 social entrepreneurs and changemakers. From my past life as an activist in San Francisco, it was fun to see, as part of her list, some friends and other faces I recognized well. One of the interviews is with Jessica Flannery, co-founder and board member of Kiva.




Click Here for the podcast.



















Hopefully, KivaB4B will be flying so high next year that one of our team will make it on her distinguished list. Click Here for the post.

Senerita and her husband arrive in Los Angeles from Samoa tomorrow afternoon. "Afio mai i Los Angeles" means "Welcome to Los Angeles" and I hope that I can ease their transition for their first journey abroad.

Their village is called Samalaeulu Leauvaa. It was formed by a group of refugees from a village of the same name "Samalaeulu" on the other island of Savaii. Samoa (formerly Western Samoa) is primarily made up of two islands, Upolu and Savaii. The original settlers to Samalaeulu Leauvaa (best guesses on how to pronounce that!!) fled from their original village 100 years ago (1908) when the Mt. Matavanu volcano erupted and covered most of the village with lava (in fact the lava fields are still visible up to now). The whole village is busy preparing for the celebration of their 100th year anniversary.

Some other fun facts about Samoa. 

-Western Samoa gained its independence in 1962 and changed its name to Samoa in 1997. It was the first nation in the South Pacific to become an independent country.

-Samoa is a member of the University of the South Pacific in Suva (Fiji). Members are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

-The population is about 175,000, 75% rural.

-Evidence suggests that Samoa has been inhabited for over three thousand years.

-The Tia Seu Ancient Mound on Savaii is the largest ancient structure in Polynesia (12 m tall).

-It has great surfing....some day I look forward to visiting Senerita and her village and enjoying the island.

April 16th is D-Day...the official launch of the the KivaB4B program...and we have a very special guest attending our official launch party. Everyone involved with the KivaB4B program is excited to meet Senerita Lilli, a mother of eight from the island of Samoa. For the launch party on the 16th, Senerita and her husband will be arriving in Philadelphia to meet with Karil Daniels, one of the Kiva lenders who helped Senerita raise the money she needed. You can check out Senerita's profile page here and Karil's lender profile page here. This will be the first time that a Kiva borrower has traveled to the US to meet a Kiva lender.

Senerita and her husband will be traveling outside of Samoa for the first time. In addition to visiting with family in Southern California, she'll have a chance to speak with press about how the Kiva loan helped change her life. We're thrilled to be able to host her travels for two weeks.