Jolkona - how micro-donations can lead to macro impacts

In a country where we have 26,000+ NGOs, it is always expected that innovative solutions to alleviating poverty will come from within the country first rather than only from foreign aid, foreign know-how and foreign goodwill. If necessity is the mother of all inventions, then it has really produced inventions such as micro-credit and luminaries like Dr. Yunus and Sir Abed. While it is appreciated what esteemed individuals like these have contributed to the world and to the fight against poverty, let us also look around and see what a relatively younger generation, with less grey hair than Yunus-Abed, is doing in relation to fundraising, poverty alleviation and technology. Jolkona Foundation is such an organisation which I have been following for a while now.

For the sake of alleviating poverty

I have come across very few businesses that strive to change people’s lives. In this post, I am going to let you know about one business that has been doing much for the sake of alleviating poverty; needless to say, from the world. KIVA helps deprived entrepreneurs from the developing countries get loans from developed countries to realise their dreams. What could be a better idea than that?

KIVA's mission is to tie people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Literally speaking, it’s the world’s first site of its kind that enables person-to-person micro-lending. It enables individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

The people KIVA features on their website are real people seeking sufficient funding to help them run their small businesses. Potential lenders can browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan. In addition, throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), the lender can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when s/he gets her/his loan money back, s/he can relend to someone else in need. Quite simple, but amazing, isn’t it?

KIVA partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, it gains access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Its partners finds original and competent entrepreneurs (usually who are short on funds). Through Kiva, its partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so the prospective lenders can lend to them. To know more on how KIVA works, please click here.

I believe, Bangladeshi entrepreneurs can gain a lot from KIVA if an expert partner gets aligned with it. Right now, there’s a name of a Bangladeshi partner (Annesha Foundation) on the KIVA website, but its account is closed.

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Should we not take a chance?