Valentine's Day

Microfinance: Who does it really benefit???

A little more than a year ago, in December 2011 to be exact, I signed up to be a lender on Kiva.

You can read my initial views about it here (click on the link).

I liked the idea of being to help others who are in need to money to get their businesses up and running so that they can fend for themselves and loved ones. The money that I was giving would be a loan which would be repaid over a stipulated period of time and therefore, I would be able to help more than one person with the same initial amount of  US$25.00. over a long period of time. Sounds like a great idea, I thought.

Then, I got around to wondering how it all really works and this is where I got disenchanted with the whole microfinancing idea.

I spent time going though pages and pages of people who were in need of loans on Kiva and finally made my choice of funding someone who I thought whose loan I would help fund along with 24 other people around the world (Kiva has loads to mugshots of the people in need of loans from various parts of the world on their website).

Here's the catch --- most of the people whose profiles and mugshots are on the website have already been approved for loans by Kiva's field partners. So what does this mean, you ask? Simple, Kiva's field partner will manage and disburse the loan should Kiva  fail to raise the funds from Kiva lenders, people like you and me. However, if enough Kiva lenders are able to raise funds for the loan, the Kiva field partner is spared of disbursing the loan themselves and instead uses the funds raised by Kiva lenders. So, that simply means that the lenders are really funding the already rich Kiva field partner instead of the needy person whose profile we see on the website.

To make matters worse, I discover that the field partners charge very high interest and fees on the loans. Case in point: the person that I chose to lend money to had to repay the field partner 46.28% in interest and fees while I, on the other hand, only got my US$25.00 back after over a year, with no appreciation on my initial loan sum. It needs to be noted that I was lucky as I got my full initial loan amount back as not all loans are fully repaid by the end of the loan term.

So while you may think that you're giving the chosen person whose profile you see on the Kiva website a helping hand, in reality, you are really helping the field partner by giving them an interest free loan while they laugh all the way to the bank at your and the needy person's expense. A 46.28% portfolio yield is waaaaayyyy better than what anyone will ever make on the stock market.

The person that I thought I was helping by giving an interest free loan is really being charged a hefty sum of  money and I get no satisfaction knowing that my interest free loan is doing nothing by way of helping this individual in need but instead is helping fund the field partner's financial interests. For this reason, I am withdrawing my funds from Kiva.

MooGoo Edible Strawberry Tinted Lip Balm Review

This is my second MooGoo Edible Lip Balm purchase. The first purchase that I made was the MooGoo Cow Lick Lip Balm which I purchased over a year ago and reviewed it here (click on the link). Incidentally, I still have a little bit more to go on that tube of lip balm even though I carry it in my handbag and have been using it almost every day. I guess that just goes to show just how little lip balm I use each time I apply it.

Anyway, back to the MooGoo Edible Strawberry Tinted Lip Balm... I've been meaning to purchase this lip balm for the longest time but have been putting it off as it was, until recently, only made available online and I didn't want to pay the RM10.00 delivery charge on a lip balm that costs only RM16.90 to begin with. I finally dragged myself down to the local supplier's office recently to purchase this tube of lip balm only to discover a few days later that it was selling in Watson's in 1-Utama!

The reason why I stopped using lipsticks and use safe lip balms is because "what goes on the lips gets eaten" and who wants to eat chemicals??? :O

The no nasty chemicals ingredients list. MooGoo's claim is that they are proud to list all the ingredients they use in their products and not just the safe ones.

The tinted color of the lip balm which may appear to look like it's pretty dark but really, once on the lips, it is not really that visible. It gives only a touch of dark tinted color to my lips.

What I liked about this product:

1. It's a safe natural product that contains no nasty chemicals.

2. It smells really sweet ... like strawberries!

My reservations about this product:

1. I found this product to be a tad on the dry side when compared to the Cow Lick Lip Balm, which I prefer in terms of texture.

2. The color wasn't really what I was expecting but hey, it's difficult to get vibrant colors when you're limited to using natural products. The color is more of a dark brown rather than a red (the color is from beets, by the way, in case you're wondering and so, I guess, that makes it also a vegan product).

Popular Book Vouchers

This is how I fund my reading habit: First, I earn reward points each time I use my Maybankard 2 credit cards  which is pretty easy to do as I pay for most of my shopping by credit card (which I make sure that I pay off in full at the end of the month). When I have accumulated enough reward points, I redeem them for Popular Book vouchers!!! :)

You can read more about Maybank 2 credit cards in my earlier post  here.

To stretch out my buying power even more, I normally wait for Popular to go on sale  (when I get to enjoy a 20% discount on books) before I use my vouchers to pay for my purchases.

It always feels like a treat when I go shopping for books without having to pay for them in cash :)