Stories tagged with zip
The Challenge
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Earlier this month Kiva Zip celebrated a milestone of having disbursed its 1,000th loan to entrepreneurs in Kenya. What is unique about the Kiva Zip model is that it is a direct, person-to-person lending platform with 0% interest loans and no fees for the borrowers (learn more here!). We are very excited about the tremendous progress we have made and about the improvements we continue to make that allow us to better serve our borrowers, Trustees, and lenders.
Kiva Zip targets entrepreneurs with very small businesses and who can benefit from a loan as small as $50-$100...
Continue Reading >>I get up at 7:00 and go for a jog on a trail by my house that goes by a lovely creek. After a shower and breakfast I get started on my day. It starts with a meeting with Tabitha, the marketing coordinator for a local business trustee, to go over the trustee profile. After coffee with Tabitha I drive over to the International Institute of Akron which supports refugees as they integrate into the Akron community. I speak to the director and her... Continue Reading >>
The midday sun was at its height, and as we throttled down miles of dusty country roads, the wind kicked up streaks of earth that colored my clothes red and coursed through my hair. Sitting on the very back of the motorbike, with Aditi sandwiched in-between me and the driver, I grasped for the metal bar behind me with one hand, and with the other, waved at an ever-evolving panorama of fruit sellers, truck drivers... Continue Reading >>
For the past few months Kiva Zip has been constantly innovating and experimenting using mobile technology. One experiment that deserves to be highlighted is that of our pilot with a service called Kopo Kopo. Kopo Kopo is a world-class platform which enables small and medium businesses to accept mobile payments and build relationships with their customers. They receive a six-digit till number that allows customers to pay using mobile money.
The benefits to our borrowers have been huge. Because of Kopo Kopo, entrepreneurs can deal less in cash thus reducing their risk... Continue Reading >>
MEET JESSIE GOLDENBERG: entrepreneur, New Yorker, and - as of today, Feb 25, 2013 - Kiva Zip’s 150th crowd-funded startup in the US.
Jessie is a smart, resourceful, double-shift working Brooklynite and NYU graduate. Her 6 month old business idea - turning a used 14-footer truck into a mobile fashion boutique that tours festivals, markets and college campuses called NOMAD - is already revenue-generating. So it begs the question: why did someone like Jessie...
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