Ernst & Young has recently offered a donation of in-kind resources to Kiva.org. Kiva.org is the first person-to-person micro-lending website in the world. Ernst & Young will utilize ts expert professionals all over the world to help out Kiva.org increase the transparency of its micro- lending processes. The joint venture between the two companies was declared at the recent Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.

Kiva.org has a partnership with micro-finance institutions all over the world. It aims to connect and develop proficient entrepreneurs who are in need of loans with individuals who are willing to finance. They try to bridge the gap between individual financers and the entrepreneurs who are in need of such loan funds. Till date Kiva.org has helped in connecting 337,000 users to almost 60,000 entrepreneurs, with loans worth US$43 million. The users include farmers in Ecuador, carpet weavers in Afghanistan as well as herders in Uganda
 

Ernst & Young will now work with Kiva.org to work for borrowers from different microfinance institutions. They will mainly work on different procedures to include scrutinizing the
• borrower’s identity,
• term of loan and loan amount
• amount of investment
 

This is the basic structure underlying the Kiva.org business model. Their ability of attracting lenders, partnering with the micro-finance institutions, providing transparent and accurate data and finally delivering loans to individual borrowers are all based on this procedure.
Premal Shah, president of Kiva.org says that “Kiva.org’s model relies on the accuracy of information provided about the entrepreneurs receiving loan funds through the Kiva.org website…” He also feels that their “new relationship with Ernst & Young is designed to continue to improve the oversight and accountability in this process.”
 

The collaboration of Kiva.org and Ernst & Young will bring about a massive change in the corporate responsibility and the area of entrepreneurship. Apart from Ernst & Young’s commitment to work with Kiva.org, the company offers provide pro-bono technical assistance to a number of prospective entrepreneurs through the Ernst & Young Corporate Responsibility Fellows Program. The company conducts award program like Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) and other such events to acknowledge the potential entrepreneurs. Presently Ernst & Young has collaborated with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship regarding the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award.