Matthew and Jessica Flannery, Founders of Kiva.org




iinnovate show

Summary: Matthew and Jessica Flannery are founders of Kiva.org, what the New York Times calls "D.I.Y. foreign aid" MP3 File Subscribe via iTunes Add to del.icio.us Great things are afoot at Kiva, featured today on Oprah alongside Bill Clinton. Kiva is a person-to-person microcredit lending platform which allows any individual in the world to be a banker to the poor: it does this by connecting the working poor with microloans from anyone in the world. Kiva straddles innovative intersections, and does it well. By combining philanthropic motivations with the marketplace, Kiva is entrepreneurial, rigorous, capitalistic, and charitable all at once. iinnovate caught up with Matt and Jessica Flannery for an insightful chat on how it all started, the experience of starting an endeavor as a husband-wife team, as well as Kiva's challenges, successes, and future directions. - Nir Eyal and Min Li Chan