Author Archives: Beck

Jessica Jackley and Kiva

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I can’t remember when I first heard the term “microfinance.”  I may have read a feature story in the Vanderbilt University alumni magazine about fellow alumnus Muhammad Yunus (PhD, Economics, 1971), Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank.  Dr. Yunus is widely credited with introducing the theory and practice of microlending starting in the 70s.

Certainly, Josh and Chuck of Stuff You Should Know podcast fame were the catalysts for my direct involvement in microlending, through their championing of the Kiva organization.  In fact, I joined the SYSK Team Kiva in mid-March of 2010, and I’m proud to report that our Team now has over 4,000 members who have made over 13,000 loans for a total of almost $400,000.  The average number of loans per member is 3.4, so with my five loans, I’m keeping up.  To date, I’ve loaned to women in Peru, Bolivia, Tadjikistan, and Ecuador (the first two loans, to two different Peruvian women’s collectives, have been completely re-paid).  But enough about me.

It was with great interest that I learned that Jessica Jackley herself would be speaking on Love, Money, and Work: Social Entrepreneurship as a Career at the UMass Student Union Ballroom tonight at 5:30.  In April 2004, Jessica and Matt Flannery started working on Kiva.  A year later, the first seven loans were funded, for a total of $3,500; in November 2009, Kiva reached $100 million in loans.  How did it all happen?

Ms. Jackley described her odyssey from a young girl troubled by traditional religious attitudes toward the poor to an influential entrepreneur dedicated to finding solutions to global poverty.  As an elementary and high school student, she tried hard to be a “good Christian” and give conscientiously to charity, but she felt distinctly uneasy by the thought that no matter what she did, she could not alleviate very much of the suffering in the world; the natural reaction to feeling ineffectual was simply to ignore the problem.  When she started her undergraduate education at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, she was faced with the choice of what to study and decided to go with “What do I love?”  She was interested in three questions and picked fields that would help her answer those questions.  First, Who is in charge?  That led her to study Political Science, with its emphasis on understanding structures and systems.  Second, What is true? which led her to Philosophy, and third, How can I find my voice? which led her to study poetry, with its emphasis on words and their meanings.

After graduation, on an impulse, Ms. Jackley moved herself across the continent to California, where by chance she landed a job at the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.  There, in Fall of 2003, she heard a talk by the afore-mentioned Professor Yunus and was inspired to go out into the field herself, to try to understand who the poor are and what they themselves want and need.  In East Africa where she spent three months, she heard first-hand that the poor prefer loans and not hand-outs; they want to be partners in a relationship of equality.  Over the next year, working with Matt, a friend and computer geek, she figured out a way to share the stories she heard with her own family and friends, via the Internet.  Thus Kiva was born, an organization which allows ordinary people in the First World to connect with other people in developing countries, hear their stories, and help them out with micro-loans.  From my own experience, it’s gratifying to realize that an amount as small as $25 will really help someone, an individual with a name and a face.  Not only that, but my $25, when re-paid, can be easily be re-loaned to someone else.

Ms. Jackley emphasized that her trajectory from Liberal Arts major to businesswoman was not as unlikely as it might first appear.  In fact, it was her background in the humanities that helped her speak different languages — that is, understand different ways of seeing the world — and make connections between problems and solutions.  She concluded her talk by summarizing four lessons she learned about how to start and run a successful business.  These are

  • Lesson One: Know your mission by understanding who you are
  • Lesson Two: Co-create with others, which means trust others
  • Lesson Three: Iterate, and don’t be afraid to fail and start again
  • Lesson Four: Remember that (Love + Money) > Money

If you love your work, you will believe in it and see possibilities where others may not, and tomorrow will be better than today.

Ms. Jackley’s current project is the for-profit company ProFounder, a website dedicated to crowd-sourcing investment capital for small businesses in the United States.  I certainly wish Jessica much success in this venture!

I would be remiss if  I discussed  microfinance without mentioning that the practice has been heavily criticized recently, particularly with respect to high interest rates charged to borrowers.  On the Kiva site, you can click on the tab “About Microfinance” to get background information on the issue, but of course you can also Google the topic to get a variety of opinions.  Kiva does say quite clearly

Microfinance is also the idea that low-income individuals are capable of lifting themselves out of poverty if given access to financial services. While some studies indicate that microfinance can play a role in the battle against poverty, it is also recognized that is not always the appropriate method, and that it should never be seen as the only tool for ending poverty.

If I have a chance to learn more about economic development strategies and how to measure outcomes, I’ll write up my findings in another post later this year.

Of Middlebury Town, Then and Now

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Next year, 2012, will mark forty years since I first set foot in Middlebury, Vermont.  After I visited the town this past weekend, for the first time in ten years, I re-read the booklet titled Of Middlebury Town that was mailed to all incoming Middlebury College freshmen in 1972 (yes, I kept it in my files).

A lot has changed, both in the town and at the College.

The booklet describes these downtown businesses, located on Main, Park, Mill, Seymour, Elm, Court, and Pleasant Streets, and on Merchant’s Row and Bakery Lane:  Sam’s Market, Emilio’s Deli, Tom’s Barber Shop, Little Wing, Tony’s Pizza, Benjamin Brothers Dry Cleaners, Store 2, Chief’s Pool Hall, The Alibi, Frog Hollow Craft Center, Little Oaken Bucket, College Town Shop, Frog Alley Fabric, Leather Brothers, Ruby’s Variety Store, The Wicket, Farrell’s Men’s Shop, O’Brien’s Beauty Shop, Sports Unlimited, Verde Mont Gifts, The Pipe Shop, Wild Mountain Thyme, Vermont Drug, Calvi’s, Montgomery Ward, Vermont Book Shop, Park Drug, National Bank of Middlebury, United 5 Cent Store, Bike Touring Center, Lazarus Department Store, Ted Novak’s Mobil, Fisher Travel Service, Campus Cinema, Ben Franklin, Mal Randall’s Ski Shop, Sears, Midd Way Shop, Baker’s Jewelry Shop, Ski Haus, Abrams’ Department Store, Gerow’s Heating and Plumbing, Pauline’s Beauty Salon, The Shoe Hut, Cole’s Florist, Rother Studio, Depot Auto Parts, Country Tire, Stan’s IGA, Grand Union, Quesnel’s Laundry, Electronic Lab, Middlebury Hardware, Bakery Lane Food Shop, Chittenden Trust Company, Brown’s Auto Parts, All Good Things, Cisero’s Pizza, Merle Norman, Bud’s Market, A&P, Dot Discount, and Desabrais Laundry.

Of these 63 establishments mentioned, I count 9 that are still in business under the same name: Wild Mountain Thyme, Vermont Book Shop, National Bank of Middlebury, The Bike Center, Ben Franklin, Sears, Pauline’s, Cole’s Flowers, and Ski Haus.  Some years ago, Frog Hollow Craft Center, which was newly opened a year before I arrived, relocated to Burlington as the Frog Hollow Vermont State Craft Center.  Campus Cinema has morphed into  the Marquis Theater.  Calvi’s, the ice cream parlor where I spent many happy hours, has been replaced by the country store Sweet Cecily.

There are probably as many changes in dining and lodging establishments as there are in the retail businesses and services listed above.  The Middlebury Inn and Waybury Inn and the restaurants Mr Ups and Fire and Ice are still on the scene, but I would venture to say that almost every other restaurant in Middlebury today was not there forty years ago, including such popular eateries as Two Brothers Tavern and 51 Main.  I can’t say if these changes to a small town over almost half a century are typical or not.  What do you all think?

I stayed two nights at the Inn on the Green, renovated in 1995-97, long after I left Middlebury.  Here I am having breakfast in the Cornwall Room:

Across from the Inn is the Town Hall Theater, which when I lived in Middlebury was the Knights of Columbus Hall.  The Knights sold the building to a community group in 2000; after years of fund-raising and massive renovations, the building was re-opened in 2008.

Otter Creek still runs through the center of town:

The town seems a bit more upscale than in my day, but perhaps that makes it even more of a picturesque place to visit.  It was fun being a tourist:  my niece and I ate dinner Friday night at the Taste of India and last night at the Storm Cafe; we also enjoyed a late afternoon chocolate treat yesterday at Middlebury Chocolates.

Since 1972, there have been many changes at Middlebury College as well, including an increase in the student body from about 1800 then to around 2350 today.  I photographed some of the new buildings, so I may write another “Changes” post.