Study Guide

Microfinance= a form of financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses lacking access to banking and related services
Microloan= a small loan given to individuals who might not have access to typical banking services, usually to start or expand small, self-sufficient businesses

The Providers:
Best known lenders is kiva.org
The average loan size is $410.89
Kiva's current repayment rate is 99.01%

The Receivers :

Microentrepreneurs who are trying to start a small business
Villagers needing to fund a clinic, hospital, or other health care facility (malaria treatment)
teachers trying to run a school (buying anything from books and pencils to desks and chairs)
students wanting to further their education (college tuition)

Problems:

High interest rates, could be 23%
Providing bank services to those living in poverty is high. Being the company that provides tiny loans can be expensive
The harder and more time consuming is the process of all of the loans

They help, not cure:

Banking services are often unavailable to poor people, microloans fill the gap
Not just loans, but insurance, and legal representation too
Very important to people who are trying to get out of the poverty cycle
Sadly poverty is a very big problem, with no easy solutions

Challenges:
There are many challenges faced by developing nations

Some of these can be alleviated through microloans
Substandard education ( money can help purchase supplies, buy books, pay teachers)
Poor health care ($ can help buy supplies, construct new/better buildings, deal with malaria)

Malaria:

It’s a mosquito-borne infectious disease
Humans and animals can be infected through the bite of a female mosquito
no vaccine exists
It kills around 665,000 people a year, many of them children in sub-Saharan Africa
Mosquito nets can be effective (Thank you, Bill Gates)

Philanthropy= is the generous donation of money to good causes, and Bill and Melinda Gates are the second greatest philanthropists in history ($28 billion, ⅓ of their wealth)

Bill Gates and his wife support research and development for a vaccine, diagnostics, and mosquito-control measures  -  like mosquito nets!