How to lend money to refugees, with Lev Plaves (Kiva)

<p>This is a special interview for me. HTLMTS doesn't pull in huge volumes of listeners, but that's OK, that's not really what I'm after. I want the right listeners, not the most listeners, and so I get excited when a guest tells me they got a business lead after their interview, or when one guest asks to be set up with another for some new project, or when, like today, I get to look inside a company that I've long admired.</p><br><p>Kiva first came into my consciousness in 2006 as an early grad school project. I actually tried to back this up with some old PowerPoints, but although I found an old CD with 'MBA files' scribbled on it, it turns out we don't have a CD reader on any of the computers in this house, so you'll just have to take my word for it 🤣 Anyway, the point is they're a foundational fintech, and one with a social drive to boot.</p><br><p>Today I'm chatting to <a href="http://pages.kiva.org/users/lev-plaves" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lev Plaves</a> about the ways in which Kiva has evolved since my school project, and in particular how he and his team are lending money to refugees. The Kiva Refugee Investment Fund successfully closed with $32.5 million, and they're multiplying that impact by following an open approach, sharing their lending results as they go, so others can take heart from the fact that loan officers now say that "refugees are now the first people they look to, because of what their performance has been and how strong they've been as clients".</p><br><p>Kiva is, of course, at https://www.kiva.org/ but then you'll want to jump straight to the refugee tab - I'm helping Ali put up solar panels and Alaa with her sewing business, for example.</p><br><p>Or find their blog at https://www.kiva.org/blog </p><br><p>You can reach out to Lev and the team by email via refugees@kiva.org</p><br><p>You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">on my LinkedIn page</a> (feel free to c