After visiting the slums of India last spring, senior Kim Saloner was determined to ignite change in poor countries. “I went to India and saw the extreme poverty, and I wanted to find a way to help,” Saloner said. “I could tell that the people had potential to do well, but didn’t have the resources to do so.”

During second semester last year, Saloner started Pay it Forward Club to help improve peoples’ lives in impoverished countries through microfinancing, which provides financial aid to people so they can accumulate enough money to start businesses.

Once the people begin making money, they pay the loan back. “I like microfinancing because the people who receive the loans have the responsibility to pay them back, and with this responsibility they become self-sufficient,” Saloner said.

Club member senior Danae Sterental agrees with Saloner. “There are always charities asking you for money and you always wonder where your money actually goes,” Sterental said. “When Kim explained [Pay it Forward] to me, I realized it was such a good idea. You lend money, people grow businesses and prosper, and then they pay you back and you can loan the money to someone else.”

Saloner has a background in the innovative loaning service. Her father, Garth Saloner, teaches about microfinancing at Stanford Business School. One of Garth Saloner’s former students, Jessica Flannery, started a non-profit organization called Kiva, which connects people to small, unique businesses in the developing world that they can loan to. Pay it Forward works through Kiva.

Last year, the club lent $25 each to three women in Africa, one from Togo and two from Kenya. All three women work in the food industry, producing and selling food. On the Kiva website (www.kiva.org), club members can read about the women’s lives and see exactly what they are using the loan for (for example, purchasing heating wood). The website also documents how much of the loan has been repaid—two of the three women have already paid over 40 percent back.

One club member, senior Stessy Mezeu, feels especially strongly about helping developing countries because she has seen the hardships herself. “I lived in Africa for nine years, so I experienced the poverty first-hand,” she said. “I think it’s so important for people to not only be aware of it, but try and help Africa and other parts of the world as well.”

Pay it Forward has raised money selling baked goods at lunch. The club plans to do many more fundraisers in order to begin micro-lending to more people in need across the globe. In addition, they plan to do presentations to Contemporary World History classes to educate students about microfinancing and what they can do to help. “Our goal is to keel the school updated,” Saloner said. “We want students to pick who they will loan to so they can personalize the loan.”

Pay it Forward Club meets Thursdays at lunch in room L-6.