These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

I love telling people about stuff I love in hopes that they will love it too! (Kind of a "Stephanie's Favorite Things" all year round). So to kick off the inaugural favorite things post, I give you:

Kiva.org

Seems appropriate since I learned about this organization on Oprah (I don't hardly ever watch Her Oprahness since I work when she's on....but I caught this one because my buddy, Bill Clinton, was on and I just heart Bill!)

Anyway, Kiva is this absolutely wonderful organization that allows anyone to loan money to businesses in developing countries. The people you are loaning to are business men and women who are trying to build themselves out of poverty and make their way in the world. You simply go to the site and pick out someone to loan money to. They have a featured business or you can search by where they live, or what type of business they have or how much they need or whatever. The businessperson's page will give you all the info on what they're doing (some are just starting.....others are looking to expand). And all of them have pictures.....so you can see the person you are helping!

But here's the best part......you loan a minimum of $25, which then gets added to what other lenders have given until the business has all it needs. But it's a LOAN! You get the money back! The length of the loans varies.....the man I loaned to has 15 months to pay the money back. And I've already got some back because he's made some payments already. Once the loan is fully paid (and my $25 has been paid in full), I can turn around and loan that money to someone else. So my measly $25 can be used again and again. I love it! I have many favorite charities that I try to give to every year and it's nice that one of them can use my recycled money.....or, if I find $25 burning a hole in my pocket, and I can do another loan while waiting for my first to be paid back.

So here is my loan recipient:


Dramé Mamadou is a dynamic 40 year old tradesman. He lives in Port-Bouët, a very populated suburb in the south of Abidjan District. Mamadou owns a well managed store and sells fresh milk, sweets, candies, juices, soaps, sugar, etc. Mamadou is married and has 4 children. He wants to expand his activities and diversify his product range by selling rice. He will use the loan to purchase goods in bulk from the largest wholesaler in order to get lower prices and improve his profit margin. He joined the AE&I Microcredit Program in 2005 when he heard about the organisation from one of his friends. Mamadou has performed very well since then and is honest and well organized.

Isn't he great?? I just want to fly over to the Ivory Coast and give him a big hug and shop in his store!

So please go out to Kiva.org and take a look around. This loan thing is fun AND addicting. You've been warned.