Talking to Jan Wiklund

Today we’re meeting up with Jan Wiklund!!!

Please tell us a little bit more about yourself.

I come from Sweden but at the moment I’m living in a small town called Tavira in Portugal. I used to be in sales, paper & pulp manufacturing. I was also were a principal in an upper secondary school.

I retired and first moved to Malaysia about 10 to 15 years ago but then my kids had kids & the flight from Malaysia took so long that I started looking all over Europe for somewhere to move to and ended up in Portugal. I’ve been in Tavira now for about 5 years and I love it here!

I had enough of the Swedish winters!

What do you do now that you’re retired?

I have no real hobbies…. I love going out for long strolls on the beaches. I still travel a lot so I’m not able to keep a pet.

When & How did you first hear about Kiva?

My wife (who’s passed away now) was an English teacher in Russia and one of her pupils, Oksana Buran, told me about Kiva. It was roughly around 2012.

Do you favor any particular lending theme? i.e. agriculture, retail, a particular country or groups of women?

I prefer to lend to women. I make loans all over the world and I also support groups. I don’t have any real strategy but I look at their stories to see what they want to achieve and then I pick someone.

Have you been associating your loans with a particular team?

I have not been associating with a team, I’ve simply been lending direct. I didn’t really know about the team concept. But now that you’ve explained the team setup to me I’m going to do some research and I might join a team.

How soon after your loans have been repaid do you lend the money out again?

I usually wait for the Kiva reminder emails to tell me I have a balance in my account and then I lend that money out again.

Do you regularly add to your Kiva balance or do you just work with what is already in the account?

I usually add money to my Kiva account whenever I can. I never take money out.

How many of your friends have you convinced to be a part of Kiva?

I’ve tried to promote Kiva as much as I can and I invite my friends to join. I’ve tried to support Kiva as much as I can.

Do you think Bring Hope to the World can reach $100M USD in loans by 2025?

Eventually…. why not?! It’s a matter of marketing & getting the word out.

Thanks so much for sharing your time with us Jan & we are super happy that you are part of the Kiva family!