Muskan Chopra ’13

Muskan Chopra ’13 interned this summer as a Kiva Fellow for Kiva Microfunds. She focused her efforts on a start-up pilot in direct lending using M-PESA, a mobile payment system. She researched agencies and individuals to identify and endorse 0% interest loans funded by lenders directly to the mobile phones of borrowers. As a fellow in Nairobi, she helped the local MFI maximize the value that Kiva loans can have on their existing outreach and impact. In particular, she focused on expanding the MFI’s Kiva network at the field level to include branches that distribute green loan products, like solar lanterns. She also conducted Borrower Verifications by communicating directly with microfinance borrowers in the field.

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My Experience

Kiva partners with 160 Microfinance institutions across the world to connect them with lenders that are interested in making loans to their clients. As Fellows, we are sent to the field to be the eyes and ears of the organization, ensuring that the relationship between Kiva and the MFI is strong.

I was placed in Nairobi for 10 weeks, working on two key projects. I assisted with implementing Kiva Zip, a direct lending pilot project using mobile payment system, M-PESA. I focused on developing strategies to scale the pilot for on-boarding of new borrowers and for giving multiple loans.
I also incorporated catalytic loan products (green and water loans) through training rural MFI branches. As part of the role of every fellow, I interviewed 25 Kiva borrowers to assess loan impact and analyzed factors affecting repayment rates.

In my first year at business school, I took some invaluable courses such as Decision Models and Strategy that helped me on the direct lending pilot project. I was able to set up useful models in Excel while I researched ways to price the second loan that a borrower asked for, looking into factors such as previous loan size, loan period, and ratings from their trustees.

Having done a Pangea project in the spring semester, I also learned how to find productive ways to contribute to my MFI. I found myself thinking critically about their workflow process and suggesting methods to save time during the monthly repayment uploads to the Kiva portal, a process that used to take over 2 hours.

Kenya is not particularly a safe country. As part of my job, I was traveling all over rural Kenya to visit borrowers and do trainings for the MFI I was assigned to. Having to do it alone was initially daunting, but quickly turned in to an exciting challenge once I understood that it was important to follow the rules of travel in East Africa (don’t be out in the dark alone, don’t take public transportation once the sun sets etc.)

Being in microfinance, a number of clients were poor farmers that lived very far away from big cities. As part of the due diligence process, I met with 10 borrowers who were randomly selected by Kiva to ensure that the MFI was reporting correct information to us about their loan. Meeting a number of those borrowers sometimes took a full day in order to have that 15 minute meeting.

Being a Kiva Fellow is a real-world experience. It delivers what it promises. You are out in the field, visiting the borrowers almost on a daily basis. Having that kind of access to the end-user, being able to ask them any question about their life, what drove them to be entrepreneurs – that was extremely invaluable.

Most Kiva Fellows are also placed in locations either on their own or with 1-2 other people. This is a real test of your strength to cope with being in a different country, learning the ways of getting around, and being proactive in creating your own support system. It is a great character-builder and teaches you survival skills that will help you many years down the line.