This year's Town School for Boys Kiva Kids are up to old tricks, selling product in the name of micro-lending. As the money poured in from faculty, staff and parents*, the boys got excited to purchase their product and start making money. Fair day at Town occurs every year the day before February holiday week and it seemed the perfect day to launch this years products. 4 out of the 6 groups successfully received product in time to make this happen. The two groups that didn't get their product in time have learned lessons about shipping costs (ouch!), inventory issues (out of stock), and that being on top of things and working as a group is very important. I have faith that watching their peers success on Friday will only in the end make their company stronger in the future.
*In the past I struggled with the idea of having parents become lenders, however after careful consideration I allowed each parent to give up to 10% to their son's company loan in an effort to bridge communication about the project experience and learning.
In addition to selling product, the boys have recently learned how to set up spreadsheets, and create functions (They need to this to set up a BOG -Bank of Goggin). They have also used proportions to discover what their loan size in Kiva Kids would look like on Kiva.org, they have analyzed the Town School for Boys Kiva portfolio to look for trends and gaps, and have had serious discussions about pricing, profit, and building capital. We are just getting started.