Kiva Investment Group Bigshots Meet
Transcript of the Pondering Pig Kiva Investment Group Managing Directors Meeting Feb 27 2007
PPig: Welcome, Directors, to cousin Portly's Lunch Counter. Yep, no mahogany conference table plundered from the forests of Borneo for us! And Portly said we could meet here after he closed if we bussed our own coffee cups. He even left us a pie for later.
Is everybody here?
Let's see.
Belladonna?
Greg?
Hannah?
Julia?
Kirstie?
Leo?
Loryjean?
Patrushka?
Paula and Spoke?
PonderPig?
Ramon?
That's all the members so far of our Kiva Investment Group. Of course, as you may know, we encourage everyone to join our exclusive group. Just invest in a Kiva businessperson or two (by clicking on the box in the upper right corner), and email me me your Kiva Member Page Link. A Member Page looks like this, for example.
Now, let's get down to business.
I have been tallying our member lists and find that between the eleven of us we are partnering with seventy-five micro-entrepreneurs in eighteen different countries.
Group: Clap clap clap! Hooray! Let's adjourn! Cut the pie!
PPig: Keep your mitts off that pie! Folks, our micro-entrepreneurs are starting or expanding grass roots businesses in some of the poorest countries in the world. We're giving them a chance to succeed on their own terms without any charity.
Oh, I know a lot of us are just going to loan out our money again after we get paid back. No one's trying to make a profit. We just think, "Hey, twenty-five bucks! I'll spend more than that if I take the Pondering Pig out to lunch! And it'll really make a difference to these Kiva guys."
Leo: Gee, we could give out bumper stickers. Invest in Kiva...or take the Pondering Pig out to lunch!
PPig: Hmmph! May I continue? Our partners' two most popular businesses are selling clothes and running little grocery stores. In fact, nineteen of our seventy-five businesses are in those two areas. Mostly, people run the businesses right out of their home or have a little stall in the marketplace. Building up their inventory is the number one reason for wanting a loan.
Ramon: Yeah, but we invest in all kinds of other businesses too. Besides retail, we have a blacksmith in Ecuador, a guy in Azerbaijan who raises sheep, a Bulgarian beekeeper, a lady in Kenya who sews embroidered seat covers (a big seller), and a furniture maker in Mexico. In Nicaragua, we've even invested in a cyber cafe .
Loryjean: I like my tomato lady in Togo. Her name is Ms. Houégnamétor Adjogble.Julia: And I like my three tailors in Afghanistan, like Nafesa Gul Dad.
Hannah: Don't forget my beautician in Senegal, Fatou Kine Niang!
PPig: OK OK, we are investing in really cool people, and it's great to see them taking their destiny into their own hands. My question is...how are their loan repayments coming?
Tomorrow: Do KIVA Borrowers Repay Their Loans? KIG's Experience. Plus All Kind of Other Interesting Stuff. Plus Pie All Round.
Photo - Portly's Lunch Counter: Patrushka
Photo - Fatou Kine Niang: Kiva
Labels: Kiva Investment Group
posted by Christopher Newton at 1:15 PM
17 Comments:
Hah-- I like those board meetings.... If PPKIG, Inc. would ever pay out dividents, then... we'd all straight away invest them back into Kiva!
However, PP was very vague about the pie... what was it? Apple Pie? Dutch Apple Pie? Hmmmmmmmmm.... hope that one is still good by then...
Irma's food store is doing well, as is Maria's place. Both in Mexico, both loans have been dispursed!!!!
Who made the pie?
Yay, pie!!!! Wahoo!!!
Just watch Spoke, he doesn't share pie so well.
Typical! Right to the pie! Well, there's one thing I can tell you - it's definitely NOT pork pie!
And banana chips. Don't forget about Miriama Leota in Tufalele , Samoa who borrowed money to help her banana chip business. And she's already paying back.
I like banana chips. But not as much as pie.
This is a fun board meeting.
So I can report that I started looking through all the field partner sites to compile a list of countries Kiva lends to, and didn't get very far. I wandered off and got into some of the field partners web pages, and saw all the cool stuff they are doing, etc. Then I got lost in the statistics between the field sites, noticing that some field partners are very new but have raised a lot, and who is paying back, and all kind of fun things.
Lots of fun to be had in the field partner pages.
Pondering Pig! Great News! I just this last week received news updating me on how two of my folks are doing! Ms. Ahondjo has purchased her pepper grinder and it is being kept busy morning to evening, and Mrs. Amedjiwole has purchased the things she needed for her bakery. Thank goodness for Babelfish though- the updates are in French which I don't understand. Anyone here know French though? Babelfish is a little bit weak- I'm not sure what it is trying to say when it reads "It bought a mill with pepper enabling him to more easily grind the condiments with the restorers and was made a display of goods."
Here is the original if anyone feels up to translating:
Les $700 que madame AHONDJO Sodoayé a bénéficié à la MICROFUND a aujourd’hui donné un sens à sa vie. Elle s’est achetée un moulin à piment lui permettant de moudre plus facilement les condiments aux restaurateurs et s’est fait un étalage de marchandises. Elle excelle essentiellement dans l’alimentation générale, la vente des piments, boîtes de conserves, des savons et des petits poissons. Aujourd’hui, elle fait à tout moment des recettes très tôt les matins jusque tard dans la nuit. Son secret est de ne plus avoir des ruptures de stock et diversifier au maximum les articles en suivant les besoins les plus sensibles de la population locale. Les résultats ne se font pas attendre. Elle rembourse déjà et fait aussi des épargnes qui ne sont pas à négliger.
I happened to grow up in Montreal and speak a bit of French.
I think it says this:
She bought a mill to grind condiments for restaurants and she increased her goods. She now sells pepper, soap, small cans, and small fish. Now she grinds by hand all day just until the night. Her secret is to never be out of stock and to diversify to the most articles following the needs of the local population. She is still waiting for more results. She has paid already and has savings that shouldn't be neglected.
My two ladies are doing grand things. Oliver Nyoni from Tanzania is reportedly doing well with her clothing sales made of the fine batik patterns she creates; She has paid back a third of her loan already.
Perris Eddah Wengari over in Kenya is busy sewing those seat covers. She has repaid 10% of her loan.
The one gentleman I am working with, Mamadau Diawin Senegal only recently received his funding - the dispersment notice was posted Feb 2. So I am hopeful he and his group of partners were able to purhase the pump they needed and will soon have new acres under cultivation.
I continue to pray for the economic well being for each of these individuals and their families, but more importantly I also pray that they will be spiritually strengthened and have renewed hope in their lives, and faith to sustain them through both good times and the lean.
So pass me some of dat pie!
(If you folks would all like to get together at my house for the next meeting, my beloved makes a killer strawberry rhubarb).
both of my business owners have begun repayment. i would venture to say that they are much better stewards with what little they have than many of us more fortunate ones.
just for the official meeting minutes, i gotta say that i have never gotten more bang out of a few bucks.
feels so good, it must be illegal.
Thanks Julia! That makes much more sense. Much appreciated!
Or, we could have been enjoying Tuesday's 9% losses on the Shanghai market....
Dear Pondering Pig, Bigshots, et al:
On behalf of the team, thank you for support and enthusiasm for Kiva! It is a joy to see.
Warmly,
Jessica (cofounder)
PS - That pie looks AMAZING. :)
HAH. Pig, you think you're funny, don'tcha? You don't realize how prophetic you are.
Just remember, I have more fingers than you have hands.
@Julia:
About the banana chips... they call those Tajadas in Central America, and in Perú they still them like potato chips in little baggies, calling them "Chifles".... very yummie.
About my businesses:
1. Can I put in a shameless prop for any business that is put on Kiva through Mifex in Ecuador....
2. My highest repaying business is at 40% currently. All of them are Paying As Agreed, to use a credit-report term.
@Jessica:
Thanks for dropping in, Jessica...
The power of pie - we have our first board meeting and the cofounder of the company shows up!
Ramon, thanks for the chifles info. Makes me hungry!
I just found 2 new loans from Honduras. Both are home groceries. There is still time help fund them. Sort by 'new' and you'll see them. I don't know how to link in comments
A bit of wisdom for all our KIVA investors and other assorted blogging pals.... I was going to explain the HTML code to put in Blog comments to make hot links, but all that does is CREATE the link without showing the code.
If you care at all and want the code feel free to e-mail me at Belladonnapiranha@yahoo.com and I will send the code.
Hello fellow Board Members! I was just wondering about how our investments actually make it into the hands of our borrowers. Do you think there's a clerk at the micro-finance office who jumps on his bicycle and peddles out to the borrower's village to deliver the money? Hmm...sounds dangerous. Robbers might be hiding in the bushes along the road, knowing that he's got a bundle of cash in his saddle bag.
Perhaps he doesn't actually have the cash on him, and just rides out to deliver the news that the money is in the borrower's account. (Some of our borrowers might not have telephones.) Then what happens? Do the tomato vendors, bee keepers, dairy men etc. then get credit, or money to go buy whatever they need? Somehow I have a feeling that banking works differently in some of the Kiva locations.
We need an educational video! Compassion International has a nice one that shows how child sponsors' letters get from point "A" to point "B", get translated and delivered, with pictures of the kids receiving them and writing back. Nice!
It would be great to follow our funds all the way to the Grand Opening of the Togo Tomato Stand, or Miriama's Banana Chip Palace. (Ha! - maybe she could be persuaded to make something else with those bananas, like...BANANA CREAM PIE!) Send the Pondering Pig! He knows a bit about media technology AND he happens to know all about banana cream pies. A perfect match!
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