Loans that help not only entrepreneurs but also the environment

One of the essential parts of the Kiva Zip model is the Trustee. Trustees are the organizations or individuals that work directly with Kiva Zip and help identify and support borrowers throughout the loan cycle. What those Trustees all have in common is that they are motivated by helping people and changing lives. Apart from that common vision, Trustees can differ a lot in terms of the services they provide. I have identified another commonality among several Kenyan Trustees, though - they not only help people but also the environment!

The Challenge
One of the biggest challenges in the Kenyan slums is the lack of sanitation facilities and solutions for waste management (reduce, reuse or recycle). Thus, this is an important topic toward which an increasing number of NGOs are shifting their focus.

Recycling
One way to address the issue of large amounts of waste is to view the waste as an opportunity rather than an unsolvable problem. Kisumu Innovation Center Kenya (KICK), for example, endorses borrowers who make paper products that can be produced out of old newspapers and Christmas ornaments out of old soda cans.

Another recent Trustee shreds down plastic waste to produce recycled components for construction or neat photo frames. In some cases the material is free, but in other cases the organizations even buy the waste from waste collectors, which in turn creates jobs opportunities. Like one Trustee put it, “We might lack the capital, but we do not lack creative ideas!”

Gift cards made out of recycled waste

Promoting Cleaner Energy
Solar panels and biogas are becoming more and more popular sources of energy, and a number of our Trustees provide or encourage this type of power. One such Trustee, Umande Trust, builds sanitation facilities in slums where the waste is then used to produce biogas. Umande endorses Kiva Zip borrowers that are part of the communities that run the sanitation centers.

Umande Trust celebrating the opening of a new community center

Energy Conservation

Another way to reduce use of fuel consumption is to make sure the energy is used in an efficient way. A brilliant example of this is the Trustee Global Village Energy Partnership (GVEP) International, who works with entrepreneurs that produce clay liners for cook stoves. It is a simple idea, but the clay conserves heat and reduces the fuel needed to cook a meal significantly.

GVEP clay liners in the making

Explore the full list of Kiva Zip Trustees here and support the borrowers they endorse by making a loan!