Lovisa Asinde is a Ugandan widow who supports herself and her five children selling food. She started the small business eight years ago, and planned to open a larger restaurant in the center of her town.
But when one of her children fell ill she was unable to work, and she lacked the $500 needed to buy saucepans, plates and food staples.
So, strange as it may seem, Asinde went looking for international investors. She found several.
New Yorker Bill Gilroy invested $100 in her business along with eight other investors from as far away as the Netherlands.
Gilroy has never met Asinde. In fact, all he knows about her he found on Kiva.org -- a Web site that connects entrepreneurs in developing nations to investors in the United States and abroad.
This is microfinancing. It allows everyday people to invest as little as $25 to help people in developing countries climb out of poverty. The concept of microfinancing is nothing new. At its essence, it's making small loans to the working poor. The loans are used to establish or expand small businesses to help families earn more money.
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