Why we chose Michelle as a Fellow

Michelle spent more than five years in Kiva as one of the first employees learning what works -- and what doesn't -- in microfinance. She believes that you can test and scale new loan products with non-traditional partners to generate maximum impact.

Microfinance 1.0 was a way to provide loans to poor people. Kiva Labs is at the forefront of the effort to drive microfinance 2.0: which is harnessing loans for high-impact products and services. This holds the promise by leveraging an existing industry to drive much more impact than loans to individuals.