My 100th Kiva loan to global entrepreneurs

This weekend I made my 100th micro-loan through Kiva.org   

It's a good feeling to be able to support entrepreneurs globally.  It's especially nice when Kiva makes it so easy.

My portfolio after 100 loans:

73% female.  27% male.
About 95% related to agriculture and food entrepreneurship.  Kiva has a 98.59% repayment rate.  Kiva currently has about 1,341,049 individual lenders who have made about $759,301,075 in loans globally.

I'm proud to be part of this story.  I've included a link at the end if you'd like to learn more.

Here is the story behind my 100th Kiva loan (photo).  This story lured me in because it mirrors the effort we're making at the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen to improve food preparation efficiencies while creating valuable jobs for co-workers with disabilities:

"The 'Cristo el salvador' communal bank is made up of 5 responsible women who want to get ahead in life. In the new cycle the group is represented by Vilma, who is 50, single and has 4 children, 1 of whom still depends on her. She has a business selling all types of food that she prepares for her customers herself with a lot of hard work. That is why she will use the loan to buy an renew her utensils, such as pots, stirring spoons, plates and cutlery she needs to be able to serve and sell better. This is how Vilma generates her own income with a lot of hard work and dedication, to offer her son a better quality of life. In future, she plans on doing buffets for all types of events, because she is the best at that. In the group photo, Vilma is standing among the other members, who are seated."

Here is my 'country list', of places where I chose to make my micro-loans loans to help entrepreneurs:

Albania

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Benin

Bolivia

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cambodia

Chile

China

Columbia

Congo

Congo – DRC – Democratic Republic of Congo

Costa Rica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

El Salvador

Georgia

Ghana
Guatamala
Haiti

Honduras

India

Indonesia

Iraq

Jordan

Kenya

Kyrgyzstan

Lebanon

Liberia

Malawi

Mali

Mexico

Mongolia

Mozambique

Nicaragua

Nigeria

Pakistan

Palestine

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Rwanda

Samoa

Senegal

Sierra Leone

Somalia

South Africa

Suriname

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Timor-Leste

Togo

Uganda

Ukraine

United States

Viet Nam

Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Don't wait for top down solutions to problems that can be solved at the person-to-person level.  I invite you to join this adventure in support of our global peers:
http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/rick7473

Thanks Kiva!