|
Kiva: Connecting people through lending
A bus driver in Germany, a clerical officer in Canada, a technician in the United States and a website technician in Malaysia—all are united by one Pacific denominator.
They lend $25 each in their own currencies to Litiana in Samoa who uses the cash to start a business venture selling barbecue through a loan of US$675 or 20000 Samoan Tala.
What is fascinating about this is that the funders remain in their countries and send their contribution to Samoa via a website financing service called Kiva (www.kiva.org)
Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. It’s been described as the “world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe”.
Today, Kiva partners with 122 Micro Financing Institutions (MFI) in 48 countries around the world helping to improve the lives of simple rural dwellers who can post their stories on their website. The agents of this new facility are spreading their wings to the Pacific.
Rico Munoz, Partnership Development Specialist - East Asia & Pacific Region, said Kiva is interested in bringing their services to other nations in the Pacific like Fiji, Solomons, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
Attending the Pacific Microfinance Week in Nadi last month, Munoz said the facility was a good way for people in the Pacific to start their own businesses and change their lives.
Kiva was founded in October 2005 by Matt and Jessica Flannery after being inspired by a 2003 lecture given by Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus at Stanford Business School.
Matt worked for a company in the Silicon Valley in California while his wife worked with microfinance institutions in Kenya.
After returning from Africa, they began developing their plan for a microfinance project that would grow into Kiva.
“He started this as a hobby and he recruited friends and friends of their friends and it became so successful. There was a great demand from lenders which forced them to look for other microfinance institutions,” Munoz said.
“They actually quit their jobs and did it fulltime, so they used Kiva which is Swahili for unity, and looked for other microfinance institutions who would come on board.
“They started with zero and grew rapidly and even this year when we are supposed to have a small growth, our growth is even more than the past years.”
Munoz said they were actively looking for microfinance partners to put up their stories of their clients on the website.
He said he has been in contact with the relevant officials at this year’s summit. Partners simply have to post their profiles and the Kiva officials scrutinise or conduct due diligence to see how loans are tracked down.
The assessments of each borrower are left to the MFI as they are the best judges of the borrower on the ground.
“Kiva facilitates funding for the start-up capital through the PayPal system,” Munoz said.
“All the stories of the loan proposals are posted on the website for people to scrutinise.
“As a result of the popularity of their product, it is one of the most visited websites in the world and they record about a million visits every six months.
“Even celebrities in the US like Arnold Schwarzenegger is a lender in Kiva,” he said.
“We provide a resource that is very easy to get and you do not have to write a 10- page proposal and wait for years.
“All you have to do is post a two-paragraph story of a client on the website and one picture and at an average, it takes only two days to fully fund a project.”
Kiva also promotes the business of the borrower on its website so that while they may be remote to most urban dwellers and foreign countries they can be visited and their full profile scrutinised.
Important of all, the lender is able to track where and how their money is being used, and how it is able to make more money for the borrower.
When the money is paid back to the lender, they can continue to lend the same amount to another borrower.
Kiva itself is not a microfinance institution—and they do not lend money directly to clients nor do they advocate for increased access to credit on behalf of the poor in developing countries. Like ebay, you choose the products you want.
Munoz is a lender himself and invested $100 in four projects. He has now been able to reach out to 10 borrowers through the facility.
“It’s a sort of a culture thing and a noble culture at that,” he said
“An ordinary person can go into it and be part of the big picture—you do not have to be rich.
Now with a simple click of the mouse an average income earner or anyone with cash to spare in the United Kingdom or Holland can provide finances to a stone carver in the Western Province in the Solomons, a yaqona farmer on the island of Kadavu in Fiji, a pig farmer in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, or a fisherman in Vanuatu.
The way to go is for the nice people (Kiva stands for nice in Finland) to unite and share their cash to those needy people in the Pacific where poverty and unemployment is rife.
—By Robert Matau
Solomons’ Tokuru works on growing tourism
If there is one thing the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau is certain about—it‘s that the country is safe for any tourist or visitor.
And to prove that, visitors are flying into the country and as a result tourism is growing at a “handsome pace”, according to the bureau’s chief, Michael Tokuru.
In 2008, the country recorded a total of 17,477 visitors; 16,267 by air and 1023 by sea, which is an increase of 15 percent from the previous year.
“We are hoping 2009 will be another good year. But that kind of growth has been going on since 2004,” he said.
“We have recorded growth each year after 2004. We have not received statistics for 2009, so we won’t be able to make out our projections for 2009.
“Our projection, however, is that it will grow to between 18,000 to 19,000.”
Tourism is one of the new hopes for the Solomons’ economy.
Across the islands of Western Province, tourism operators are step by step adding accommodation and facilities. But in this beautiful environment, there seems to be an understanding that small is better.
Tokuru attributed growth to the return of law and order with the arrival of RAMSI and other factors in the travel sector.
He says economic activities, marketing and promotions have also contributed to the steady growth they are experiencing since 2004.
He said one of the major projects being undertaken in Honiara is the AU$10 million Heritage Park hotel. It is due to open in August.
It is the first 5 star hotel in the Solomons and includes a nightclub, casino, and six three storey luxury apartments—built on a controversial land at Point Cruz, the prime foreshore of Honiara city.
At the moment, the total bedroom capacity in the Solomons is over 1000 plus beds. It has been growing since 2004 as a result of the increased presence of RAMSI officials and consultants from various international institutions.
“The Heritage Park Hotel will definitely provide the stimulus for the development of upmarket hotels and will target the middle to upmarket business—basically the businesspeople and consultants and NGOs.
“There are also some tourism developments going on in Gizo where they plan to build another getaway resort on Naru island.”
Tokuru said logging in the islands is reducing and tourism is taking over—many rural areas are building accommodation for tourists and visitors.
“Our focus basically is to grow tourism in Solomon islands and this started since 2003 after the country came out of the ethnic crisis.
He said their largest market is Australia followed by New Zealand. Apart from promotional activities, the bureau also provides information and advise on travel when tourists need it.
The bureau has also launched a new website called www.visitsolomons.com.sb which has comprehensive information about making your stay in the Solomons more exciting and convenient.
But the bureau continues to promote the Solomons as a diving destination—which is one of their major products and last year they began promoting surfing.
Solomons is the new Bali with uncrowded surf perfection in a pristine natural and cultural environment. It has been described as world’s last surfing frontiers.
“There are other activities like dolphin calling in Malaita province being encouraged. Dolphin calling is still very traditional and there is a tribe that specialises in it and runs a tourism venture near Honiara,” Tokuru said.
The bureau wants convert this traditional concept into tourism attractions. “We have a world heritage site in Rennell. There are some other places like the conservation area in Tetepare in Western Province which has a leatherback turtle sanctuary.”
Tetepare Island is one of the conservation jewels of the Solomons Islands. This long, rugged island cloaked in rainforest and fringed with biodiverse reefs is the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific.
Tetepare is an island forgotten by time and swathed in mystery.
InterOil to purchase Shell Oil Products PNG?
InterOil Corporation has contracted, through a subsidiary operating its downstream distribution business, to purchase Shell Oil Products (PNG) Limited.
Shell Oil Products (PNG) Limited owns aviation fuelling assets located at Jackson’s International Airport, in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Under the contract, equity in the Shell entity is being acquired for $7.5 million which, together with certain additional cash and working capital adjustments, will be funded by drawing down from existing debt facilities.
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to the downstream distribution business and will add to InterOil’s existing aviation fuel distribution network in regional Papua New Guinea.
The acquisition is conditional upon review and approval by certain statutory authorities in Papua New Guinea.
“We are excited about the acquisition which will afford InterOil an opportunity to grow our downstream aviation fuel marketing and distribution business, develop our existing branding in-country and provide further support to the government and citizens of Papua New Guinea,” said Phil Mulacek, CEO and Chairman of InterOil.
InterOil Corporation is developing a vertically integrated energy business whose primary focus is Papua New Guinea and the surrounding region.
Its assets consist of petroleum licenses covering about 4.6 million acres, an oil refinery, and retail and commercial distribution facilities, all located in Papua New Guinea.
In addition, InterOil is a shareholder in a joint venture established to construct an LNG plant on a site adjacent to InterOil’s refinery in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
|
