"If you're an entrepreneur, you should sound more confident than you are..."
I continue to be impressed with the team at Kiva. For those of you who missed the previous posts, they are a talented group that is committed to providing loans for entrepreneurs in poor countries in the attempt to change lives. I've been so impressed my wife and I have joined those lending to entrepreneurs on their site.It's been amazing to watch how their ideas have "tipped" since their story aired nationally on Frontline. Recently I've enjoyed reading the blog "The Kiva Chronicles", that is written by the founder, Matt Flannery. It's an interesting look back at their journey and I'd encourage any aspiring young entrepreneur to take a glance at it. Here's a recent posting on Matt's blog that I thought was a good inspiration for those in Business as Mission for a variety of reasons. You definitely need to read the whole article on this one.
"If you're an entrepreneur, you should sound more confident than you are. If you're a social entrepreneur, you should be more inspirational than you feel. If you are an introverted social entrepreneur, you will face even more problems...
I struggled with depression for much of my young adult life. Sitting close behind a great optimism for other people lied a cloud of pessimism directed inward. In my short career in the corporate world, this pessimism would hang over me for weeks at a time. I would come home from work just wondering how I was going to escape the meaningless cycle I seemed to have fallen into.
There's a big difference between ideas and beliefs. The last two years we've been battling in the world of ideas and slowly changing minds. Lately I've surprised myself. I've actually started to believe these ideas. Last week I was speaking and I noticed the tenor of my voice modulating between dispassionate and passionate, intellectual and emotional, bound and released. I stopped thinking for a while and just let myself go. The time flew by.
At the moment, Kiva is financially self sufficient. We are doing about $20K in loans each day, and getting just under 10 percent in optional lender fees. Our users are proving that personal lending can be carried out in a financially sustainable way. Because we have an amazing group of lenders, the urgency of daily fundraising has been alleviated. This means that we are free to carve out our own destiny and build the product that we all desire. Together, we can assemble a resource that will be a public good for generations to come. I can't tell you how excited that makes me feel.
Again, we owe this all to our users. Thanks to you as I leave work tonight and head home for a rare and wonderful sleep."
Labels: Business as Mission News and Notes, Editorials, Microfinance
1 Comments:
commented by 
Aquila Network, 12:34 PM
Aquila Network, 12:34 PM
It is exciting to see the growth of Kiva and get a behind the scenes view of organization through his blog.
We at Aquila are waiting for the day a "kiva-esque" type of venture launches within the Business as Mission community!