I like to cook, and I was recently browsing through the 101cookbooks.com site, looking for something do make with some extra zucchini, when I came across this unexpected post: an invitation to join the 101cookbooks.com Kiva lending team.
Suffice to say, I was not expecting to find microfinance shout-outs on a cooking blog. But when I saw this post, I was really struck (again) by the power and reach of Kiva’s model. Kiva just makes it so easy for people to participate in the micro-lending “movement” – anyone can become a lender and forge personal connections to individual loan recipients in the developing world. Not only is it easy to participate, but now it’s apparently getting easier to enlist others, too. The virality is really impressive.
Acumen Fund’s model is obviously different from that of Kiva (small & medium enterprise finance vs. micro-lending to individuals), but we have similar ambitions around engaging large numbers of individuals in our work. How do we give any interested, eager individual a way to participate? How do we create personal connections between the customers of our portfolio companies in India, Pakistan, East Africa and people who live thousands of miles away? How do we build a “movement” around the development-through-enterprise sector in the way that the microfinance movement has sprung up in recent years? How do we translate that “movement” into changes in the way people approach philanthropy and development?
We don’t yet have answers to these questions, but Kiva has at least shown us that there are plenty of people out there who want to try to help solve poverty if you can just give them a way to get involved. Our challenge in creating a “movement” will be to supply easy ways for people to participate so that maybe one day someone else’s search for a simple recipe will change the way she looks at the world.
P.S. If you ever find yourself with an “extra zucchini” problem, I recommend this recipe.
