I came across an article on how Kiva is using facebook to expand microfinance mission. One of the major problems confronting microfinance institutions is to get funding for the investors. Facebook can help Kiva connect the investors to the MFIs.
http://www.cio.com.au/article/279526/it_innovations_help_kiva_expand_microfinance_mission?rid=-154
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I had always thought of the Micro-Finance model to be one where an MFI would pool together investments and then lend to businesses or individuals in need. There was always a disconnect between the lender and borrower.
ReplyDeleteKiva interestingly has used technology effectively to create a personal bond between the lender and the borrower. By opening up their API's they created new avenues to allow more people to be a part of this initiative. They have also given enhanced capabilities to the users to upload videos and pics to make the whole process a bit more personal. They have become one of the few MFI's who have actually allowed the lender to choose the person they want to lend to by reviewing their business ideas and needs.
They have been able to achieve this at a low cost! Seems like the 'scarcity mentality' is working very well for them. Just goes to show that technology initiatives can be developed and leveraged at a low cost by innovative thinking.
I particularly like the point about creating a personal bond between the lender and the borrower. Now they are taking that idea to the next level by using facebook. This is a great example of an organization with a potentially huge customer base on one end (borrowers) using a web platform to reach a a large network of potential suppliers on the other end (lenders).
ReplyDeleteI think a question for facebook, if they want to encourage this sort of business in the future, is how can they further facilitate this and encourage connections to be made between the two groups?
There are two degrees of separation between the borrowers and lenders, facebook and kiva. How can these two organizations become transparent enough to encourage seemless connection, yet still encourage a dependency from their users?