Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

Status update — August 16, 2017
Kiva and SPIRE have agreed to end their partnership after more than 2 years and more than $17k in loans raised. This Lending Partner has repaid its outstanding balance to Kiva in full, and these funds have been distributed to lenders. We thank SPIRE for the years of collaboration and wish them success in their future endeavors.

Status update – August 11, 2015
Kiva has moved this Lending Partner to inactive status. This means that SPIRE is no longer fundraising loans on Kiva, though Kiva fully expects the partner to continue to send repayments owed to Kiva lenders for as long as the partner has an outstanding balance. This partner is currently inactive because they are focusing on a new strategy and taking time to develop a new type of loan. If and when this partner requests to fundraise again on Kiva, Kiva will first conduct any additional monitoring and due diligence tasks we believe necessary.

Partner description:

In Kenya, unemployment among new university graduates is about 40%. Spire was founded as a social enterprise to address this issue and help graduates obtain jobs.  One of the ways the organization does this is an education-to-employment course called the Career Accelerator program.
 

A unique lending approach:

Education loans will help eligible students to finance and participate in the career accelerator program. Applicants are selected using a combination of aptitude testing, in-person interviews and academic grades.  Loans cover tuition fees as well as administrative/operational costs.