Kathy Guis

As Regional Director, Europe & Asia, Kathy Guis manages the team responsible for Kiva's partnerships with microfinance institutions and social enterprises in the region with an eye to maximizing Kiva's impact while controlling risk. Currently based in San Francisco, Kathy began working for Kiva in 2010 in field-based roles in Dakar, Senegal and Beirut, Lebanon. Prior to working for Kiva, Kathy worked in marketing and publishing. Kathy is fluent in French and graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Comparative Literature, summa cum laude, in 2006. In her spare time, Kathy hikes, cooks, and spreads the word about how awesome Wisconsin is (it's really great).

Kiva Blog Updates

Dec 2, 2010 KV Kiva HQ

We’re very happy to announce that there are now loans from Kiva’s first Jordanian field partner, Tamweelcom, on Kiva.org. Tamweelcom is a worldwide leader in the microfinance industry, having been named one of the top 10 microfinance institutions worldwide by the MIX Market in 2007 and 2008. The organization has also been recognized by the Arab microfinance network Sanabel, the Schwab foundation, and CGAP for its distinguished performance in the microfinance industry....

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Oct 23, 2010 KV Kiva HQ
Many of us have read about severe flooding in the West Africa in the news recently. Annual flooding is a norm this region, but this year’s floods have been severe, causing hundreds of deaths and leaving 100,000 people homeless across Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger and other nations. This flooding is part of a pattern of floods that have taken lives and homes all across West Africa in recent months—the United Nations estimated 421 dead and 1.7 million displaced in West and Central Africa since June.

We were relieved to learn that the staff of Kiva’s Beninois field partner Alidé, which... Continue Reading >>
Oct 5, 2010 KV Kiva HQ
Senegal is a beautiful country with a long coastline, welcoming people and fantastic music. But for most Senegalese people, life is not easy. The unemployment rate in Senegal was 48% in 2001 (CIA World Factbook), and most any Senegalese person will tell you that life in 2010 is harder here than life was in 2001. Costs have risen, salaries stagnated, and the middle class has continued to shrink. Even those who are lucky enough to have jobs often struggle to feed their families.

This situation encourages immigration to relatively wealthy European countries such as France, Spain, and... Continue Reading >>
Sep 29, 2010
Please join us in welcoming CHF International Access to Credit Services Initiative Iraq (ACSI) to the Kiva family.

In the wake of years of war, very few Iraqis have access to startup capital or collateral required to obtain a loan. While it’s difficult to find a reliable statistic for Iraq’s unemployment rate, its clear that the economy is in need of deep investment and reconstruction; the CIA World Factbook notes an official unemployment rate of 15.8%, with unofficial figures as high as 30%. Other sources have estimated a rate as high as 60%. (Gen. Barry McAffrey estimated it to... Continue Reading >>
Jun 15, 2010

Kiva’s newest field partner, Amasezerano Community Banking S.A. is as lovable as its native country Rwanda. And that’s no small statement, because Rwanda could win anyone over—it has endless green hills and an engaged, courageous citizenry.


Rwanda is often seen as an international development success story in process—Kigali’s streets are clean, and the Rwandan population benefits from basic national health insurance. But poverty remains grinding and ever-present. The majority of the population lives below 250 Rwandan francs (about $0.43) per day (CIA World Factbook), and the...

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