A women's microfinance group meets in a Hyderabad slum in Andhra Pradesh, India.

How did you get involved with microfinance? What do you enjoy about it?

I first heard about microfinance in high school at a meeting for our Global Empowerment and Outreach Club. I was instantly attracted to the idea that microfinance empowers the underserved better than traditional donating can. I started my own small business selling hand-made memory boards so I could start my own account on Kiva. Kiva, the largest online microlending platform, allows us to choose who we want to lend to. I used the profits from the business to start making loans on my own on the website.

After I made my first 80 or so loans on the website, I went to a Kiva social in San Francisco and met many representatives from Kiva. It was amazing to meet the people behind Kiva and interact with the microfinance community first hand. I began working at Kiva the following summer as an intern for the Kiva High School program, a network of microfinance clubs that enables high school students to organize themselves to spread the word about microfinance and change lives around the world. Now I am the Media Officer for Kiva High School. I also have continued my involvement with microfinance in college as well, serving as a board member for Penn Microfinance.

One of my favorite things about microfinance is that the benefits that borrowers receive are sustainable and have a long-term impact. Rather than giving a one-time donation that has a myopic impact, I enjoy giving an opportunity for someone to lift himself or herself out of poverty.

What skills have you learned through micro-lending? Will you continue to use these skills in the future?

By assessing the risk of certain loans and favoring quantity over quality, I learned how to make smart financial investments with the money I had earned. By mitigating the risk of the loans I made defaulting, I learned basic principles of economics and sound decision-making. I will definitely use these skills in the future as I continue to make microloans. I am also using these skills in business classes at Wharton as well. My first-hand experience with using my money in this manner has helped me better understand my finance and accounting classes here in college.

How can other young people get involved in microfinance?

Young people can get involved with microfinance by starting a Kiva chapter at their high schools and can also lend on their own. Students can also learn more about microfinance and have their teachers and administrators integrate education of microfinance into their curricula.