Kiva loan helps Ulaanbaatar meat retailer expand business

Altanchimeg Dash is 33 years old and lives in Ulaanbaatar. Since 2003, with the help of her husband, Altanchimeg has been operating a meat retailing business at a rented stall in Han Talst, one of the biggest markets in her town. She specializes in selling mutton and beef. She has worked hard to grow her business and now her daily sales are approximately MNT400,000.

Altanchimeg took a loan for MNT3,000,000 in August 2010 in order to complete her house, which she hopes to one day develop into her own meat retailing store. As of today the loan is 16% repaid.

Altanchimeg"s is one of the many dreams being brought to life by Kiva, a non-profit online micro-lending site based in San Francisco, USA. Kiva enables people from all over the world to browse the stories and business plans of entrepreneurs in countries less fortunate than their own and choose to lend money to a specific person in increments as small as USD25.

Kiva works with field partners on the ground to find, identify and fund legitimate business ventures based on three core beliefs:

* People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way.
* The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity.
* By connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.