The Stanford Business Reporter

Issue date: 4/24/06 Section: Interviews

Media Credit: Jessica Flannery Turkey Day: Jessica Flannery (MBA1) accepts a turkey from a family who received a loan from kiva.org.

I heard about Jessica Flannery on the radio before I actually met her. NPR ran a story about kiva.org, the online microfinance site that Flannery co-founded with her husband Matt. It wasn't until several days after hearing the story that I realized Kiva's ties to the GSB.

With a passion for microfinance and three years of experience on the other side of the MBA curtain as a staffer at the GSB, Flannery brings a unique perspective to the Class of 2007.

SR: What brought you to Stanford?

JF: Right after school I ended up moving out here to live with some friends and be closer to my husband Matt, who I was then dating. I didn't have a job, or a bike or a car, so I walked around campus handing out my resume. I ended up starting as a temp in the Public Management Program at the business school.

I filled in for someone who was on medical leave, and a few weeks later they had an opportunity for me to run the Global Philanthropy Forum…which was just a wonderful experience. It exposed me to what was happening in international development around the world, which had been my interest for a while.

SR: What made you decide to leave?

JF: At one point I heard Muhammed Yunus speak. He's the founder of the Gremeen Bank. At that moment it clicked. Hearing him speak and getting to talk to him was just a really special thing for me. I ended up quitting my job at the GSB and moving to Africa, to do my dream: which was to work in microfinance in Africa.

SR: What was it like for you there?

JF: I was in my element, loving it, totally into the microfinance. I visited three to five micro-enterprise entrepreneurs every day and basically asked them: "So, tell me all about your business. How did you use this $100?"

It was just so fascinating to see how that [amount of money] could be leveraged into so much. Children who weren't going to school were now going to school. People were going from sleeping on a traditional mat with one change of clothing to sleeping on a mattress with a blanket.

SR: How did that experience move you toward developing Kiva?

JF: Matt, who has a technology background, was [visiting] and noticed different things [than I did]. I had a cell phone with me to use for emergencies. One day we turned it on just to check the time. We were in the middle of a village literally hours away from any other town. But my cell phone worked in the middle of Uganda. The Internet was there too and that was one of Matt's big things.

Continued...

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