mean that so what my character how much does he care about his Dementia or in other words what are what are what is Briggs is what does he want what is what is motivating him at this moment and soI've worked all that out for myself and I then wait till we do
So, without further ado, please help me give a really warm welcome to Premal Shah and Gary Briggs . Gary Briggs : Hi everybody. Iíll just go through, what weíll do is Iíll ask Premal a series of questions over the next kind of 40 minutes or so and then weíll take questions at the end.
background, youíre like looking down, right? Gary Briggs : Shucks! So, Winnie told a little bit about the story of how you got started but I do remember there was a lot of discussion about the beginnings of microfinance in the hallways and then you just, you just had this fire about getting started.
And then, like a lot of people are graduating in '98, I became a management consultant in New York. Gary Briggs : I donít know anyone who would put management consultant at the top. Premal Shah: Yeah, yeah.
to figure out what we should call this website that allows you to make microloans to each other. Gary Briggs : You were telling me one of the ones earlier when we were talking about one of the ones you didnít go with which I thought was pretty funny. Premal Shah: Yeah, the leading name that we had was grassroots capital dot org Premal Shah: And I loved it cause it describes
So it killed that name. Gary Briggs : You would have had the logo like that. Premal Shah: Yes. Exactly, exactly.
Premal Shah: Yes. Exactly, exactly. Gary Briggs : So, on this chart which is quite good by the way Premal Shah: Thanks. Gary Briggs : Very well done.
Gary Briggs : So, on this chart which is quite good by the way Premal Shah: Thanks. Gary Briggs : Very well done. Yeah. Oh my God itís working, so the early days if you kind of go through it, itís not all up and to the right, I mean, people write about those stories, itís never up and to
were pissed I wasnít a doctor, actually. Gary Briggs : Hopefully they hadnít told you that they had used it. Gary Briggs : And then you checked the data and they hadnít.
Gary Briggs : Hopefully they hadnít told you that they had used it. Gary Briggs : And then you checked the data and they hadnít. Premal Shah: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
But, of course, on the internet when your site crashes it actually builds the meme. Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: So that, right there, more than anything and, in fact, one of our engineers, he basically put up a little PayPal button that said, ìYouíve melted our servers, help us buy new ones.î Gary Briggs : Wow.
um, things really started taking off Gary Briggs : Yeah Premal Shah: and people, the word started spreading. Gary Briggs : Yeah. I have to admit I was imaging you four days in your Halloween costume, running around trying to make the server work. Premal Shah: I was in a penguin costume and Gary Briggs : A penguin costume?
Thatís pretty good. Premal Shah: And it was pretty ridiculous. Gary Briggs : So we should, I donít know how many, if everyone knows exactly how Kiva works and you mentioned about Grameen and a little bit of microfinance. How does it work, how do you even get started?
People participate as a business partners not necessarily as a, you know, Iím your benefactor and youíre my beneficiary but really a partnership relationship. Gary Briggs : Talk a little bit about, Winnie had mentioned at the beginning throughput for the week but just give a sense of scale and how many folks are you reaching now? Premal Shah: Sure, so Kiva today has reached 800,000 small businesses, entrepreneurs, students in 62 countries, um, the total amount that has flowed through the website is about 320
Premal Shah: Yeah, itís more women than men and thereís a 98.9 repayment rate on the website. Gary Briggs : Wow, much better than mortgages in California. Premal Shah: Yeah, yeah itís, we did a graph between, I think, the S and P 500 over the last 5 years and kind of did a Kiva portfolio and the working poor are outperforming.
Premal Shah: Yeah, yeah itís, we did a graph between, I think, the S and P 500 over the last 5 years and kind of did a Kiva portfolio and the working poor are outperforming. Gary Briggs : Some other folks. Premal Shah: Some other classes, yeah.
Premal Shah: Some other classes, yeah. Gary Briggs : So you mentioned when you asked the group about how many folks had accounts with balances and that you had the auto donate feature, talk a little about some of the features, cause you and I were talking about this the other day that there are some new features you have on the site.
Letís see. Premal Shah: Itís the moment of truth here. Gary Briggs : Apparently weíre not beating Bob Harris. Premal Shah: Yeah we only have 58 members of the Google team here.
A lot of Googlers using the website arenít even aware of the Google team. Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: Consider joining it cause itís a, kind of, track your progress together as a community. The other thing that Gary, you know, that you pointed out is the auto lending feature.
a woman from Uganda in agriculture comes on the website it will automatically deploy that money. Gary Briggs : Great. Any, any, um, you kind of think about some of the, well one of the things thatís amazing is the stories that come out from the users but thereís some incredible even somewhat bizarre in some cases, I guess.
Premal Shah: More fuel efficient Premal Shah: So basically itís mixed with a European strain that is just a higher producing cow in terms of milk. Gary Briggs : Wow. Premal Shah: But since it also has, I guess, a local strain itís more, I guess Gary Briggs : Resilient. Premal Shah: Yeah, resilient.
I mean, we see things with solar power cookers that can save you, the avoided cost from having to go and gather wood, to heat and light your home, Gary Briggs : The fumes Premal Shah: The fumes Gary Briggs : are terrible, yeah. Premal Shah: The fumes from kerosene kill more people every year in the developing world than malaria.
Premal Shah: The fumes from kerosene kill more people every year in the developing world than malaria. Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: Respiratory illnesses. And one in three people live in energy poverty are completely off the grid.
You pay more for the basic services that the middle class and rich have access to. Gary Briggs : The time it takes to go get water or the time it takes to or the danger you run into trying to go get wood, it is pretty extraordinary. Premal Shah: Exactly. So if you can get patient capital to finance basically a technology like a solar power cooker or being able to create a main line to the direct water source, your avoided cost
over time would be, youíd be able to make those monthly payments back. Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: Itís, I think the clearest example here in the U.S. is if the government said any vehicle that has over 50 miles per gallon gets zero percent interest financing for 30 years, itís like mortgages are 30 years long, so your monthly payments are so low that itís a no brainer from your fuels cost savings to actually go and switch over.
that could change their life. Gary Briggs : Yeah, and get back to, yeah, thatís totally, and the time it benefits too. I mean, so we were talking a little about it at the beginning and the idea of up and to the right, you guys are still a small business, still out trying to do what you can.
Now we have too many loans. Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: And not enough people coming. So if youíre ever thinking about trying Kiva, this is a big reason why Iím here at Google today, Iíve never done a talk in 6 years, I think nowís the time to really get out
Then what we do is we send a signal to the NGOs all around the planet that, you know what, the internet community itís, thereís, itís a real source of patient capital. Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: And, so, those are kind of the two big challenges right now. Gary Briggs : Just cause, we talk a little bit about this too, but digging into that, and you mentioned about 80 percent of the loans were to women, 20 percent were to men.
Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: And, so, those are kind of the two big challenges right now. Gary Briggs : Just cause, we talk a little bit about this too, but digging into that, and you mentioned about 80 percent of the loans were to women, 20 percent were to men. Are there particular loan types that are more likely to close than others?
heart but also with their head and then just get the word out. Gary Briggs : So you mentioned at the very beginning of things like Frontline, you canít have a Frontline documentary every day, but in terms of getting the word out, it is really hard. I mean are there certain tactics that youíve found that have been more helpful than others?
Premal Shah: And we both worked with him at PayPal and Gary Briggs : I see him on TV all the time now Gary Briggs : Heís got a book. Premal Shah: Yeah, heís on Bloomberg, heís got his own thing, yeah.
experience for people to connect with the work that theyíre doing around the planet. Gary Briggs : Well, you mentioned as you were telling stories about Kenya and M-Pesa is a mobile technology, thereís a lot of technologies that are now helping on distribution, can you talk a little bit about what youíre seeing, whether it be outbound or inbound?
So everyone almost kind of turns into an ATM machine, if you will. Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: And itís about 4 years old. 78 percent of the adult population in Kenya uses it, 25 percent of the GDP now flows through this M-Pesa mobile payment system.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : And the distribution, I mean, obviously the distribution power is extraordinary.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : I think we mostly agree with that.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Okay. Thatís a good idea with a spot bonus you get a Kiva Premal Shah: Kiva gift card.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Kiva Care or something like that.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Just cause youíre getting more requests for loans.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Itís not like being in Brooklyn, they have to travel a long way to get to you so you feel personally connected.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Yes? Premal Shah: I wanna show you guys something that I think is one of the coolest things.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Thereís a question just behind Alex.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Is there a question over here, I thought?
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Yeah, thatís great.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : So thereís probably time for two more questions so just go over to the wall.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Itís true.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : People who defraud Kiva have a special place in the afterlife I would think.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Yeah. Premal Shah: I mean we havenít seen that yet itís still a really small pilot so itís just human nature, thereís always some bad.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : I love the fact that you do keep it up there and you kind of shine a light on it thatís actually a great practice.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Sounds like we need a hack-a-thon at Kiva.
Itís incredibly promising, in fact, thereís this quote by William Gibson, he talks about the futureís here, itís just not evenly distributed yet. Gary Briggs : Alright, I think weíre about out of time.