Friday, April 17, 2009

[tech4all] Kiva.org - Loans that change lives

Kiva.org - Loans that change lives

What Is Kiva?

We Let You Loan to the Working Poor

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material.

When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

How Kiva Works

Choose an Entrepreneur, Lend, Get Repaid

The below diagram shows briefly how money gets from you to a developing-world entrepreneur, and back.

1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva's microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur's chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.

4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.

Kiva Stats

Total value of all loans made through Kiva:	$67,959,635
Number of Kiva Lenders:	477,379
Number of loans that have been funded through Kiva:	97,358
Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs:	77.82%
Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with):	94
Number of countries Kiva Field Partners are located in:	44
Current repayment rate (all partners):	98.16%
Current default rate (all partners):	1.84%
Average loan size (This is the average amount loaned to an individual Kiva Entrepreneur. Some loans - group loans - are divided between a group of borrowers.):	$422.26
Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds):	$143.13
Average number of loans per Kiva Lender:	3.97

Cumulative Volume of Loans Made Through Kiva as of 3/31/09.

Fact Sheet

Kiva is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, incorporated in November 2005.
"Kiva" is a Swahili word which means "unity" or "agreement".
Kiva is the world's first online micro-lending platform.
Kiva was co-founded by Matt and Jessica Flannery, when they were 28 and 27 respectively.
Previously, Kiva CEO and Co-Founder Matt Flannery was an engineer at Tivo. Premal Shah, Kiva President, was a product manager at PayPal.
PayPal provides Kiva with free payment processing. Kiva's is the first account at PayPal with a free payment processing agreement.
The minimum amount that can be loaned to an entrepreneur on Kiva is $25.
Kiva partners with microfinance institutions around the world, referred to on the Kiva website as Field Partners.
Recipients of a Kiva Loan are referred to as "entrepreneurs", contributors to a Kiva Loan are referred to as "Kiva Lenders".
Anyone with an email address can create a Kiva Account. Anyone who can make payments using a credit card or PayPal account can be a Kiva Lender.
Currently, Kiva Lenders can only receive 0% interest on their loan. Kiva hopes to allow Field Partners to offer non-zero interest rates to Kiva Lenders.
Kiva is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
Kiva currently employs 34 full-time staff members.

Corporate partners of Kiva

Go help someone with Kiva

(Please forward this mail to everyone you know, small drops make a mighty ocean)

-bharath

Note: Kiva cannot donate to India since they have no field patners that match their criteria, if anyone knows any such institution, recommend them to contact kiva.

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

[tech4all] Collision warning and Automatic car braking system

Collision warning and Automatic car braking system

"Our aim for 2020 is that no one should be killed or injured in a Volvo car," says Thomas Broberg, a senior safety specialist at the company.

When Volvo launched its new XC60 car in November, it included as standard an automatic braking system it claims could prevent half of all low-speed rear-end collisions.

Called City Safety, the system uses a laser sensor to check the distance between the car and vehicles up to 10 metres ahead. Measuring the speeds of both cars 50 times per second, it calculates the braking force required to avoid a crash. If the driver does not react when the vehicle in front slows, the system applies the brakes.

The Volvo S60, which launches next year, is planned to be the first car to be fitted with full automatic braking to avoid collisions with pedestrians. The system uses a combined camera and radar sensor to monitor any obstacle in front of the car. The radar measures how far away it is, while images from the camera are analysed by image-recognition software to determine what the object is.

Drivers get an audible and visual warning of a potential collision, and if they do not respond the system automatically applies the brakes.

Volvo says its system could totally prevent collisions with pedestrians in cars travelling at 19 kilometres per hour or less, and reduce the impact of collisions above that speed by 75 per cent. Unfortunately it does not work as well in darkness and in poor weather, when accidents are particularly likely.

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