2/26/26

JESSICA JACKLEY: Co-Founder of Kiva ($3B in Loans)

Jessica Jackley, Co-Founder of Kiva, reveals: How a $3,100 pilot with 7 friends in Uganda became $3 billion in micro loans that changed the world — and why she never set out to be an entrepreneur.

Jessica wasn't chasing a startup. She stumbled into a lecture about microfinance, moved to East Africa with no plan, and spent months interviewing borrowers living on a few dollars a day. What she heard changed everything. She and her co-founder Matt launched Kiva with a self-written press release, no PR budget, and a handful of Ugandan entrepreneurs who needed a few hundred dollars. Within weeks, blogs were writing about it. Within a year, they'd facilitated $500K in loans. Kiva is now closing in on $3 billion — with a 99% repayment rate across 90+ countries.

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