Even in tough economic times, it’s possible to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty in the developing world this holiday season by participating in a lending group organized by Business Owner’s Toolkit.

Join our lending team, Business Owner’s Toolkit, on Kiva, a non-profit website that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world. You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay the loan, you get your money back.

This October, Kiva Lenders loaned a record $3.6M USD, the highest loan volume for any single month. Growth on Kiva.org in 2008 indicates that lenders are prepared to give throughout the economic downturn.

Kiva.org - the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website - enables individuals to lend to developing world entrepreneurs. Loans made through Kiva.org have averaged a 0.7% default rate over the past 12 months, 4.03 percentage points lower than US Credit Card charge-off rates and 4.04 percentage points lower than US Credit Card default rates(1).

Loans made to entrepreneurs through Kiva.org have achieved a repayment rate of 98 percent, according to data released today by the micro-lending organization. Individual lenders continue to fund entrepreneurs in the developing world at a time when consumers are increasingly aware of the value of each dollar.

Despite the current credit crisis, which has prompted a cutback in loans, Kiva Lenders have never felt more inspired to lend to developing world entrepreneurs. “My recent loans to a Cambodian pig farmer, Azerbaijani clothing seller, Bolivian cheese maker, and others have been repaid in full,” said Katie Pool, a Kiva Lender. “The only interest paid by Kiva borrowers to me is a better world. In today’s financial climate those dividends make me feel like a millionaire.”

If you join the Business Owner’s Toolkit lending team, we can work together to alleviate poverty. Once you’re a part of the team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva “count” towards our team’s impact. The loan is still yours, and repayments still come to you - but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team’s collective portfolio, so our team’s overall impact will grow!

Looking to start, run or grow your own business? Get your free membership to the Business Owner’s Toolkit. Business Owner’s Toolkit™ (www.toolkit.com) offers more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs.  The site also offers a monthly newsletter, up-to-date news topics, and Ask Alice!, a column that closely follows industry trends and provides trusted advice to inquiring site visitors.