Delivered at the social enterprise-themed TEDx Merdeka Square 2013 in Kuala Lumpur. One way of facing the problems of global poverty without feeling powerless or guilted is to be part of Kiva's global coordinated experiments in spurring entrepreneurship via crowdlending. This talk argues that not only are each of us able to change a life permanently and directly by lending $25 of spare change to small businesses in low income parts of the world; we can also choose to loan money in Kiva's specific experiments hoping to disrupt the notion of what's possible/practical in non-profit microlending - experiments such as 6 year grace period university tuition loans in Africa, zero-interest Paypal -intermediated loans in US, mobile SMS based lending in Kenya, green in-kind biodigester loans in Mexico, and loans to high-risk conflict zones where startup capital is scarce and needed more than ever to fuel recovery. by former Kiva Fellow Sulin Lau KF20 2013

2. 2009-2012

3. 2009-2012

4. 2009-2012
35th birthday

6. For many of us, global poverty feels
impossibly large.
With half the planet living on less
than $3 a day, it's easy to get
overwhelmed to the point where we
fail to act.
It's easy to forget the power that
we have as individuals.
Premal shah
President, Kiva.org

7. HOW?
Part I - individuals changing individuals via Kiva
Part 2 - changing the game in entrepreneur funding

9. Donate and buy my right to go on with my
(affluent) day
Feel powerless
Do something that actually matters.....?

10. Microloans to creating
micropreneurs

11. Microloans to creating
micropreneurs
Peer-2-peer lending - idle money
becomes capital
peer-2-peer micropayments
connected global market/
community of willing borrowers
and lenders
+

12. Elizabeth Omalla
Ugandan widow with
11 dependents
Borrowed $500 in ’05
Purchased freezer, fish
at wholesale prices

13. 0
125
250
375
500
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 loans in Uganda
$3,500
mils
cumm loans
461mil
1.1mil entrepreneurs
72 countries
99.98% repayment
Small loans $ mil crowdfunded per year

14. watch live loans at kiva.org/live
$1mil lent every 3 days!

15. 975,394
who lend on KIVA
1.1mil
entrepreneurs funded
:

16. Each one of us can directly change
1 life by turning spare change into
small biz capital

17. PART II

18. kiva as a bigger “catalytic” force
.....how about partnering the global crowd to
disrupt the way social lending works
?

19. $ $
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$

20. KIVA CAPITAL IS CROWD-FUNDED
THUS, UNIQUE FROM OTHER SOURCES
DO GOOD, ZERO INTEREST
SMALL AMOUNTS $25
HIGH RISK TOLERANCE
DIVERSE BASE & LENDING
PHILOSOPHIES
uniquely placed to
test game-changing social
innovations

21. higher
edu
green/
energy
women
conflict
areas
low cost/
scalable
technology
$

22. Loans to conflict or post-conflict zones
to fund small business recovery

23. 6-20 year higher education loans
http://www.kiva.org/labs/accesstoeducation
Rosemary, South Africa
The first pilot batch to fund her tuition through a Kiva loan.
• Student loans
for low income
require long
terms and
grace periods
and affordable
interest rates
• zero credit
history
• zero collateral
• The opportunity
cost and risk
just too high for
normal financial
institutions

24. Green “in-kind” loans
(e.g. working with biodigester company, not bank)

25. zip loan

26. 26

27. 27
Kiva Zip uses strangers online to fund entrepreneurs deemed
“too risky” for any bank or MFI - and does so at half the cost
$0
$0.25
$0.50
$0.75
$1.00
Top 5 U.S. MFI * U.S. MFI avg. ** Kiva Zip Q2 2013 actual Kiva Zip 2013 forecast
* Source: MFI Annual Report; ** Source: AEO
In just 18 months, Kiva Zip is already more efficient than
any U.S. microlender
Industry ave
$0.42 per $1
Kiva Zip is at
$0.25 today
costs $0.87 to admin
$1 of microloans**
Startup
< 1 year
1 - 3 years
3 - 5 years
> 5 years
More than 50% of microloans are to
biz < 1 year of borrowers never got
a college degree30%
to ethnic minorities
55%borrowers live in
households earning
less than $20k / year64

28. 28Disrupting the current MFI model - then exporting it
0k
5k
10k
15k
20k
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Kiva Zip aims to support more
entrepreneurs per year than the entire
U.S. micro-finance industry by 2016
Current U.S. microfinance industry
(total loan volume est 400+ MFIs)
400MFIs in the U.S.
millions ofBut
small biz
assistance
providers
Farmer
support
groups
faith based
orgs
communities
&
associations
public &
private
individuals
who care
enough
Universities
& technical
schools
Veteran
groups
Tech
Incubators
reformed
criminal
support
groups
minority,
refugee &
women
assistance
groups

29. Each one of us can directly change
lives by turning spare change into
small biz capital.

30. wanna try?

31. LEND: Kiva.org
LEARN: Kiva.org/labs
JOIN: kiva.org/team/malaysia
VOLUNTEER: Kiva.org/fellows
SAY HELLO:
hellosulinlau@gmail.com,
@sulinlau