About ten months ago we announced a venture group between WR3A (World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association) and the Kiva.org small loans DIY-SBA program. The goal was to encourage small loans to small "Geeks of Color" businesspeople.
Just to update everyone, the loan to Rosa, the internet cafe woman in Peru, was fully funded and has been 56% repaid in less than ten months. We just started a new loan with Leonard, a computer entrepreneur in Kenya, which has now been 100% lent to, and we expect will be fully repaid. See below, or go to KIVA LENDING TEAM WR3A RECYCLING (note: not all loans have been made through our console, but thousands have been raised, loaned, and repaid).
For an entrepreneur like me, it seems much easier just to trade with Mr. Leonard and to discount his purchases in return for things he does, and in the bargain to create takeback and local recycling inside Kenya. But since people want to make that illegal, the other option is to give him the money directly, not ask questions where he gets the computers and parts, not incentivize his recycling, and keep the whole thing underground.
For me, open fair trade, getting good e-steward companies to stop shredding working equipment, is almost perfect (i.e. The Good). The USA Recycling Stewards get more income, Leonard gets more choice of supplier, and the "sham" recycler who would take advantage of Mr. Leonard would lose their ability to ship "toxics along for the ride".
It is a very simple concept. It has been presented to BAN, SVTC, Greenpeace, etc. gift wrapped for many years. The NGOs apparent inability to grasp trade has defaulted to supporting one group as the "expert" on international trade. That group constantly and regularly conflates the Basel Convention (which explicitly allows electronics trade under Annex IX, B1110) with the "Basel Ban Amendment", a much more draconian attempt to change the Basel Convention.
Just to update everyone, the loan to Rosa, the internet cafe woman in Peru, was fully funded and has been 56% repaid in less than ten months. We just started a new loan with Leonard, a computer entrepreneur in Kenya, which has now been 100% lent to, and we expect will be fully repaid. See below, or go to KIVA LENDING TEAM WR3A RECYCLING (note: not all loans have been made through our console, but thousands have been raised, loaned, and repaid).
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For an entrepreneur like me, it seems much easier just to trade with Mr. Leonard and to discount his purchases in return for things he does, and in the bargain to create takeback and local recycling inside Kenya. But since people want to make that illegal, the other option is to give him the money directly, not ask questions where he gets the computers and parts, not incentivize his recycling, and keep the whole thing underground.
For me, open fair trade, getting good e-steward companies to stop shredding working equipment, is almost perfect (i.e. The Good). The USA Recycling Stewards get more income, Leonard gets more choice of supplier, and the "sham" recycler who would take advantage of Mr. Leonard would lose their ability to ship "toxics along for the ride".
It is a very simple concept. It has been presented to BAN, SVTC, Greenpeace, etc. gift wrapped for many years. The NGOs apparent inability to grasp trade has defaulted to supporting one group as the "expert" on international trade. That group constantly and regularly conflates the Basel Convention (which explicitly allows electronics trade under Annex IX, B1110) with the "Basel Ban Amendment", a much more draconian attempt to change the Basel Convention.
