Friday, March 12, 2010
Kiva.org founder Jessica Jackley to speak at USI
Jessica Jackley
Contact for more information:
Wendy Knipe Bredhold Media Relations Specialist, News & Information Services 812/461-5259 Jackley will present "The Story of Kiva: Connecting People through Microlending to Alleviate Poverty," at 7:30 p.m. in Forum I in the Wright Administration Building at USI. Her lecture is sponsored by the University Core Curriculum and the College of Business. Kiva.org is a non-profit microfinancing website that allows people to lend as little as $25 to a specific third world entrepreneur, empowering borrowers to lift themselves out of poverty. Jackley, a finalist for TIME magazine's 2009 Top 100 and a USA Network Character Approved Honoree for 2010 is revolutionizing personal giving and inspiring a new generation of philanthropists through technology. Named one of the top ideas of 2006 by The New York Times Magazine, and praised by Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton and countless others, Kiva is one of the fastest-growing social benefit websites in history. Since its founding in 2005, it has loaned over $100 million from lenders to entrepreneurs across 182 countries. By 2012, it expects to have loaned over $1 billion to the world's working poor. For all its success, Kiva ("unity" in Swahili) remains animated by a simple message: "To connect people through lending to alleviate poverty," and by the idea that relationships are a powerful force for positive change. The Kiva website explains its unique model in the world of microfinance this way: "You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay their loan, you get your money back. It's a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty." Jackley became convinced of the power of microfinancing when she was a graduate student. She has worked in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda for Village Enterprise Fund and Project Baobab on impact evaluation and program development. She worked in the Stanford Center for Social Innovation to launch the inaugural Global Philanthropy Forum, and at Amazon.com, Potentia Media, the International Foundation, and World Vision. She teaches Global Entrepreneurship at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. She has a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and political science from Bucknell University. She is also a trained yoga instructor, avid surfer, and poet. For more information, call Dr. Mark Krahling, director of the University Core Curriculum, at 812/464-1712. |
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