MICROFINANCE EVENT: SeaMo Hosts Matt Flannery, Co-Founder and CEO of Kiva, in Seattle, USA, March 5th, 2009

Meet Matt Flannery in Seattle

March 5^th, 7:00-9:00PM, 2009

Town Hall 1119 Eighth Avenue Seattle, WA 98101, USA

Please join SeaMo, a local organization which aims to connect the microfinance community through events, online services, and opportunities for collaboration, at “Town Hall” in Seattle for a discussion with Matt Flannery, CEO and Co-Founder of Kiva.org. Kiva is a non-profit organization that allows people to lend money via the Internet to microfinance institutions. Mr. Flannery began developing Kiva in late 2004, and has led Kiva’s growth from a pilot project to a well known online service working with 93 microfinance institutions across 42 countries. Mr. Flannery plans to discuss microcredit as a means of poverty alleviation in general, as well as how technology helps facilitate development. Finally, he will elaborate on Kiva’s plans to continue innovating. The ticket price for students and seniors is 5 USD, and 10 USD for all others.

Mr. Flannery graduated with a bachelors and masters from Stanford University, where he studied both symbolic systems and analytical philosophy. His interest in microfinance was sparked by an on campus lecture by Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, and was deepened while traveling in Africa and seeing firsthand the capital constraints faced by small businesses. Before founding Kiva, he worked outside the development industry as a computer programmer at TiVo Inc., a digital video recorder manufacturer. MicroCapital has reported on Kiva in the past, as well as similar online microfinance lending platforms such as Opportunity International’s OptINnow.

To register, please go to Brown Paper Tickets.

By Yanni Hao

Additional Resources:

MicroCapital Story, November 25, 2008, “MICROCAPITAL STORY: Kiva Lenders Loaned a Record USD $3.6m Despite Economic Downturn”

MicroCapital Story, October 23, 2008, “MICROCAPITAL STORY:Opportunity International Emulates Kiva With The Launch of OptINnow”

MicroCapital Story, October 7, 2008, “MICROCAPITAL STORY: Ernst & Young Donates $1m of In-Kind Resources to Assist Kiva Microfunds with Accounting”

MicroCapital Story, September 29, 2008, “NEWS WIRE: Ernst & Young and Kiva.org to Work Together to Increase Transparency of Micro-Loans to Entrepreneurs in the Developing World”

MicroCapital Story, July 10, 2008, “MICROCAPITAL STORY: Kiva and VideoJug Enter Partnership to Promote Online Microfinance“