Kiva and Microplace, Ebay's mfi play

If you are interested in Kiva's idea of personalized microlending, below is some commentary on a twist to their model.

This article compares Microplace with Kiva and in the process points out a few of the challenges of the business model :
from the post Submitted on www.nextbillion.net by Rob Katz on October 24, 2007 - 09:30.

"As P2P Lending News explains, [t]he big difference between MicroPlace and Kiva...is that loans will be securitized (and therefore potentially trade-able), and lenders will earn interest. Unlike Kiva, lenders on MicroPlace invest in microfinance by purchasing securities. Funds generated by these sales are then invested in microfinance institutions around the world. MFIs, in turn, solicit clients, make loans and collect payments - they do their normal day-to-day business.

Once client payments are in, the institutional investors receive their loan (plus interest) who can then pay back their investors - people who purchased those original securities. It's not as simple a model as Kiva's, but its differences are very important."

check out the post for full text. muy interesante...


best to you all -

Kala