The Economics of Change (And why Kiva can’t get rid of me)
Theogene and his wife
By Whitney Webb
On January 19th, 2012, I was climbing a mountain in northern Rwanda, after taking a 3-hour bus ride plus spending an hour on the back of a motorcycle. I was covered in dirt, smiling, and on my way to meet Theogene, a borrower of a loan provided by Vision Finance Company and Kiva. My job was to interview him and verify an $800 loan that allowed him to buy and raise goats.
“Raising Financially Fit Families” event in Dubai
Exactly one year later, in January 2013, I found myself flying first class on Emirates Airline to meet with a group of wealthy families in Dubai. I was sipping champagne, still smiling, but contemplating how I had gotten to this moment. My assignment was to run a session on financial fluency and raising financially responsible families.
What led me from working with the poorest of the poor to the wealthiest people in the world? On a basic level, the common thread was finance. But during the heartbreaking decision to leave Rwanda and Kiva in order to work in Santa Barbara with Independent Means and Camp Start-Up, I have realized the end goals of these organizations are, in fact, the same. Regardless of where we fall on the economic spectrum, we are all trying to utilize our resources, opportunities, and hopes in the best ways possible—to make a better world for ourselves and others.
Visiting a group of client borrowers (and trying to not be so tall!)
When it comes to capital, the lesson I learn over and over is that it’s not just about the money. Yes, some form of capital is needed to propel us forward, but that can be in the form of human, social, intellectual, or financial capital. This idea is at the core of the microfinance model. No collateral? Tap into your social capital and band together with your friends and neighbors to qualify for a group loan.
But it is also at the heart of managing abundance. Have a few hundred million dollars at your disposal? Tap your intellectual and human capital to make sure you use it wisely and make real impact. Leverage your education to handle the extreme responsibilities and expectations of wealth; count on family and friends and be deeply conscious of your values as you make choices and decisions that will affect the stewardship of your resources—and your potential to actually change the world.
Happy and hopeful kids. Guess which one probably hadn’t seen a camera before…
I can’t reasonably say that the clients I work with in Dubai or Santa Barbara face challenges equal to those in Rwanda. The issue of feeding your family is more imminent and the consequences more dire than the issue of managing your funds well for the next generation. However, the strategies we use to tackle our issues, and the dreams we have for ourselves and our children, are eerily similar across the globe. In the end, I believe we are bound together by the shared qualities of compassion for one another, a willingness to leverage resources for a successful life, and a sustaining hope for the future.
It turned out that the values that got me to Rwanda (a desire to make a difference and impact the world) have helped me link two worlds that are usually held as mutually exclusive: the world of scarcity and the world of abundance. IMI’s culture and commitment to helping young people find purpose and meaning in the process of becoming financially independent make Camp Start-Up/Silicon Valley a great environment for inspiring and educating the next generation. Our mission is to teach teens how to manage, invest, and leverage their money and resources. But, the teens we work with want more than that. This partnership with Kiva brings to light the importance of global citizenship, socially responsible start-ups, and the many faces of an entrepreneur. I believe that this integration of financial intelligence and passionate commitment makes this years camp a place where the teens, staff, and volunteer mentors can be inspired, and excited about the possibilities of the future.
Every day I realize a new overlap between the missions of Independent Means and Kiva, and it gives me hope that the lines between non-profit and for-profit will blur as intention and purpose starts to play a bigger role in the way we run our companies and our lives. I hope this partnership between the two organizations is the beginning of many future collaborations as we do our part in making the world better, no matter how far apart our strategy and approach.
Check out Camp Start Up 2013: Silicon Valley
http://www.independentmeans.com/camp-start-up/
