Press release

London, October 10th 2011

Web-based micro-lending wins Jessica Jackley and Matt Flannery the
“No Boundaries” Innovation Award 2011 

Jessica Jackley and Matt Flannery are celebrated today by The Economist’s Innovation Awards programme for linking microfinance borrowers and lenders over the web with Kiva, the microlending website they founded in 2005.

Ms Jackley’s interest in microfinance was sparked by a lecture given by Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, at Stanford University in 2003. She went on to work for a non-profit group promoting entrepreneurism in East Africa. She and Mr Flannery spoke to local entrepreneurs who said access to capital was a problem.

In October 2005 Ms Jackley and Mr Flannery launched Kiva, a website that enables entrepreneurs to borrow by bringing them together with lenders from around the world. Its goal is two-fold: to provide a means for entrepreneurs to secure loans and to bring people from disparate parts of the world together through the loan process.

By September 2011 Kiva had disbursed $241m in 320,000 loans to entrepreneurs in 60 countries. The funds were provided by more than 620,000 lenders in 216 countries. The average loan is $385 and the repayment rate is 98.8%.

Tom Standage, Digital Editor at The Economist, said: “Kiva is a great example of how the web can facilitate interpersonal connections that were previously difficult or impossible to make. It links together lenders, who each contribute a small sum, with entrepreneurial borrowers, who can use that sum to make a big difference. And the crowdfunding approach pioneered by Jessica Jackley and Matt Flannery is now being applied in other areas.”

Today Mr Flannery is the CEO of Kiva. He has been named a fellow of the Draper Richards Foundation, the Skoll Foundation and of Ashoka, all of which fund and support social entrepreneurs. Ms Jackley left Kiva and recently launched ProFounder, a micro-loan organisation that serves US entrepreneurs. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a 2011 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society.

Tom Standage will interview Matt Flannery over Twitter today at 2.00pm (UK time). You can follow the twinterview at #ECInnovation11 or by following @mattflannery.

The Economist Innovation Awards programme 2011 culminates with an awards ceremony on Thursday October 20^th at the Science Museum, London at which Jessica Jackley and Matt Flannery will be recognised for their achievements alongside this year’s other category winners.

The result of the Anniversary Award winner will also be announced. Previous “No Boundaries” award winners, including Fujio Masuoka, for his work developing flash memory, Mark Zuckerberg for social networking, Peter Diamandis for use of prizes to promote innovation and Stephen Fodor, for the development of the gene chip are all in the running for the ultimate Anniversary Award.

For further information on how to cast your vote for the Anniversary Award, the awards programme and tables for purchase visit: www.economistinnovation.com 

Press enquiries:
For enquiries relating to The Economist’s Innovation Awards, please contact:

Sarah Caddy, +44 (0)207 467 5820 e-mail: sarah@gongcommunications.com  
Anna-Louise Maloney, +44 (0)20 7576 8378 e-mail anna-louisemaloney@economist.com

-ENDS-

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