Thanks to San Francisco-based nonprofit Kiva.org, with just a few clicks of the mouse, most everyone can become a microfinancier. At Kiva.org, a schoolteacher in Kansas can partner with, say, an expert seamstress in countries like Kenya, Mexico and Ecuador to jump-start a tailor shop. And that's only the tip of the possibility iceberg. Founders Matthew and Jessica Flannery came up with the idea for Kiva, which means "unity" in Swahili, after discovering firsthand that many people in developing countries had no access to affordable credit. On Kiva.org, a Web site that includes photos of loan recipients and stories about them, lenders can choose aspiring small-business owners and make their own loans. Since it went online last year, Kiva.org has worked with more than 20 microfinance institutions worldwide and enabled more than $1 million in loans for over 2,000 businesses.
