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First-Ever Kiva U Summit Convenes Student Leaders and Educators to Explore Classroom and Real-World Learning Around Financial Inclusion

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — (Marketwired) — 10/11/13 — More than 150 college and high school student leaders and educators from around the world with an interest in critical issues around financial inclusion will gather this weekend for the first-ever . is an initiative created through a partnership of and to enable students and educators to reach beyond the walls of the classroom for real-world learning and engagement on critical issues around microfinance, financial literacy and access, and grassroots leadership. The Kiva U Summit is being held now through October 14 at the HUB in San Francisco, California.

Kiva U, launched in August, is an ambitious initiative to build, strengthen and connect school-based microfinance clubs across the nation, develop teaching tools for experiential learning across education levels and foster leadership among students active in social enterprise, international development and financial inclusion. Young people and teachers can in the Kiva online community, connect with like-minded peers, and to become experts and take action.

“A generational shift in global engagement is occurring. New technologies, like those leveraged by Kiva, are enabling young people to engage as global citizens in ways that were impossible even just a few years ago,” said Kiva President Premal Shah. “Kiva U provides the platform and the tools for students to learn about and take real-world action on critical issues, from global poverty to financial inclusion.”

Kiva Chapters exist at 67 colleges and 60 high schools, and more than 2,400 additional school-based Kiva lending teams have been established around the world. The launch of Kiva U accelerated that momentum, with an additional 8,000 students joining teams and an additional 450 new student teams formed in just the past six weeks.

With all expenses aside from transportation covered, Kiva U Summit attendees will have the opportunity to work directly with experts in microfinance and global development to explore the most challenging problems around financial access and economic development. Through a series of intensive workshops, plenaries, and face-to-face peer interaction, attendees will depart equipped with the knowledge and tools to mobilize their campuses and classrooms around poverty alleviation through microlending.

“Only weeks after launching, Kiva U is already showing great promise in raising awareness and enthusiasm around peer-to-peer microlending by providing an enhanced platform for students and educators to connect and learn from each other,” said Bob Annibale, Global Director of Citi Microfinance and Community Development. “This weekend-s Kiva U Summit will equip participants with the knowledge and tools they need to grow the Kiva U network, further amplify Kiva U-s lessons, and spur even more classroom and campus engagement.”

In addition to Shah and Annibale, Kiva U Summit attendees will learn from a roster of influential names, including Kiva Co-Founder & CEO Matt Flannery, Accion USA CEO Gina Harman, and travel writer Bob Harris, whose seminal book The International Bank of Bob helped catalyze awareness around the power of the Kiva model to connect resources around the world to improve lives. A full speaker list is available at .

Kiva.org, started in 2005, is a non-profit organization providing a platform linking individuals, families, and groups with the opportunity to lend jointly to other individuals or community groups via microfinance institutions in 72 countries. To date, more than one million people have crowdfunded $480 million in loans to one million borrowers on Kiva.org. These loans are helping borrowers start or expand their business, access clean/green energy, fund school supplies and tuition, and much more.

Citi (NYSE: C), the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

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Working across Citi-s businesses, product groups and geographies, Citi Microfinance serves more than 150 microfinance institutions (MFIs), networks and investors as clients and partners in nearly 50 countries, with products and services spanning the financial spectrum — from financing, access to capital markets, transaction services and hedging foreign exchange risk, to credit, savings, remittances and insurance products — to expand access to financial services for the underserved.

Kiva is the world-s first and largest crowdfunding platform for social good, with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Together with more than one million lenders, lending as little as $25 at a time, Kiva has created economic opportunity for more than one million borrowers in 70 countries. Since its inception in 2005, Kiva lenders have funded more than $480 million in loans with a 98.9% repayment rate. Kiva is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. For more information, please visit:

Note to Editors/Producers: Students and educators available for interview on request

Jason Riggs
Kiva Communications Director

415.871.7351

David Roskin
Citi

212.559.4767

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