Become a Dragon.

[bob]

My friend brought my attention to this website where you can 'loan' people in poorer countries money, which they then use to fund their businesses, and eventually (supposedly) pay you back.

 

I loaned a couple of people $25, and kind of forgot about it, not really caring whether i got the money back, thinking it would basically just be a donation to charity, and then i got an email today saying one of my loanees had started repaying me back!

 

Right now i feel like Peter Jones or Duncan Banatyne (Deborah Meaden, not so much).

 

Once they start paying you back, you can either wait until you have enough credit to make a new loan to someone else, or remove the money to paypal.

 

 

http://kiva.org/invitedby/joseph3049

 

or if you don't want to be invited by me:

 

www.kiva.org

 

It's pretty badass.

[Cube]

Do they let you know who they're loaning to, so you can break their legs if they don't pay you back?

[bob]

Absolutely. The other person i loaned to hasn't started paying me back yet, so i'm looking into flights over there to make then see sense.

 

Going to be costly, but it'll make them all more receptable in the long run...

[EEVILMURRAY]

So basically it's the same as the "give them money so they can work themselves out of poverty" but you're adding guilt to repay into the mix.

[Dog-amoto]

I'd just lend to the woman with the biggest boobs. I wouldn't even read their story.

[Debug Mode]

Where do I sign up to borrow the money? Not that I need it, I'd just love to make a profile with a picture of the lochness monster saying I need about $3.50.

[Konfucius]

A friend of mine also brought it to my attention and I've used it twice so far. I got the first loan back soon and a bit of my second one was paid back about two month ago.

[Diageo]

Do you get paid back with interest, or do you just get your exact amount back?

[Konfucius]

Do you get paid back with interest, or do you just get your exact amount back?

 

So far I got the exact amout back. I'm not sure you can get money back with interest.

[bob]

Do you get paid back with interest, or do you just get your exact amount back?

 

I don't think you get interest no, so in that way it is not very Dragony.

[Emasher]

I don't think you get interest no, so in that way it is not very Dragony.

 

To be honest, the only similarity between this a Dragons Den is the fact that there's an exchange of money between a wealthy person an an entrepreneur (which in this case seems to mean 3rd world farmer).

 

Unless the BBC version of Dragon's Den is quite a bit different from the CBC one.

 

Anyway, its an interesting idea, but without any sort of interest, its really just charity.

[Sméagol]

Myeah I dunno. It looks a bit like kickstarter. I guess it’s a good initiative, although something feels wrong about loaning money to poor people, I mean, why not just donate it? Perhaps simply for the psychological effect, it removes a layer of “shame”. They’re not begging for your money, they just need something to start with (to start a business in some cases), then later they’ll pay you back.

 

I’ll keep the site in mind, it’s more direct than just donating to a charity, where you’re not informed of what happens with your money.

[MoogleViper]

Myeah I dunno. It looks a bit like kickstarter. I guess it’s a good initiative, although something feels wrong about loaning money to poor people, I mean, why not just donate it? Perhaps simply for the psychological effect, it removes a layer of “shameâ€. They’re not begging for your money, they just need something to start with (to start a business in some cases), then later they’ll pay you back.

 

Well there's a limit to how much people can donate. But if you get the money back then you can keep donating over and over, thus helping out even more people.

[Eenuh]

I think this sounds great actually! It's a great way to help people start their own business so they can earn their own living, rather than just receiving "charity". It's a nice motivation I think.

 

I'm gonna bookmark the site and look into donating I think. Might share it on Facebook too. Anything to help people! =D

[bob]

Myeah I dunno. It looks a bit like kickstarter. I guess it’s a good initiative, although something feels wrong about loaning money to poor people, I mean, why not just donate it? Perhaps simply for the psychological effect, it removes a layer of “shameâ€. They’re not begging for your money, they just need something to start with (to start a business in some cases), then later they’ll pay you back.

 

I’ll keep the site in mind, it’s more direct than just donating to a charity, where you’re not informed of what happens with your money.

 

Well when i first did it, i didn't know how good the 'getting money back' bit was, and you aren't guarenteed to get your money back from any of them, so in effect it is basically charity. But i think we can all agree that there's nothing wrong with charity.

 

I think it's generally a good thing though. Like Moogleviper said, you can just donate the money you get back to another person and keep helping that way.