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

Partner description:
The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is a UNESCO World Heritage Site dedicated to helping protect Kenya’s wildlife through community engagement and sustainable development. Lewa works with the government to protect threatened and endangered species, such as black rhinos, white rhinos and African elephants, from habitat loss and poaching. 

To address the factors that lead to wildlife loss, the Lewa created the Lewa Women’s Micro-Credit Program for local communities. This program aims to train women in entrepreneurship, increase micro-business opportunities and facilitate gender equity. One of Lewa’s fundamental objectives is to address the socio-economic challenges in neighboring communities to decrease the pressure on wildlife habitats.

A unique lending approach:
Lewa’s partnership with local communities has numerous positive impacts. First, their entrepreneurship opportunities empower women and secure rural livelihoods. Next, the community development initiatives, such as improved infrastructure and healthcare services, create greater resistance to poverty trends and climatic shocks. Finally, these community improvements protect Kenya’s wildlife from habitat loss and poaching.

Loans funded on Kiva will help grow the microcredit program and expand access to more women in rural areas.

Repayment Performance on Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Start Date On Kiva Oct 11, 2017 Oct 12, 2005
Total Loans $200,800 $2,078,021,835
Amount of raised Inactive loans $0 $652,195
Number of raised Inactive loans 0 142
Amount of Paying Back Loans $7,850 $154,946,905
Number of Paying Back Loans 21 186,794
Amount of Ended Loans $192,950 $1,875,373,370
Number of Ended Loans 437 2,532,304
Delinquency Rate 100.00% 13.78%
Amount in Arrears $1,539 $13,181,135
Outstanding Portfolio $1,511 $95,667,993
Number of Loans Delinquent 21 81,734
Default Rate 0.00% 1.82%
Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted $0 $34,200,889
Number of Ended Loans Defaulted 0 91,680
Currency Exchange Loss Rate 0.58% 0.47%
Amount of Currency Exchange Loss $1,159 $13,051,174
Refund Rate 0.00% 0.54%
Amount of Refunded Loans $0 $11,296,185
Number of Refunded Loans 0 9,885

Loan Characteristics On Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Loans to Women Borrowers 100.00% 78.54%
Average Loan Size $438 $393
Average Individual Loan Size $438 $585
Average Group Loan Size $0 $1,916
Average number of borrowers per group 0 8.3
Average GDP per capita (PPP) in local country $1,800 $5,592
Average Loan Size / GDP per capita (PPP) 24.36% 7.04%
Average Time to Fund a Loan 9.65 days 9.16 days
Average Dollars Raised Per Day Per Loan $45.43 $42.94
  Average Loan Term 13.83 months 11.5 months

Journaling Performance on Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Total Journals 189 1,236,682
  Journaling Rate 35.59% 41.85%
  Average Number of Comments Per Journal 0.00 0.02
  Average Number of Recommendations Per Journal 0.00 0.55

Borrowing Cost Comparison (based on 2017 data)

    This Lending Partner Median for MFI's in Country All Kiva Partners
  Average Cost to Borrower 9% APR 36.00% PY 27.16% PY
  Profitability (return on assets) 6.94% 0.5% -1.90%
  Average Loan Size (% of per capita income) N/A 56.00% 0.00%

Country Fast Facts

Lending Partner Staff

Purity Mwenda
James Mwenja
Lawrence Riungu