I recently had the pleasure of speaking to Kushal Chakrabarti, CEO and Founder of Vittana, about his non-profit startup.  Vittana is a microlending platform much like Kiva.org.  The main point of differentiation is that loans made through Vittana will assist students in developing countries get an education, and as a result improve their options and lives.  Just this past week the first batch of students funded through Vittana have been able to secure their first jobs and begin the process of repaying their loans.  Check out the student’s stories here and here.  Currently, the Vittana staff has been working really hard to build partnerships around the world so more and more students can get loans and, in the past few weeks, the number of students coming online at vittana.org has quintupled.  Vittana has only just begun and will hopefully continue to gain momentum and become a truly remarkable platform and force of cultural and global change.

The average internet user generally sees internet start-ups as focused on finding new ways to create money online. Vittana is focused on creating good. What caused this shift in focus?

Vittana: I don’t really see it as a shift. There are some really amazing Internet startups out there that are focused on doing good — DonorsChoose, Kiva, GlobalGiving, VolunteerMatch, idealist to name just a few. You hear this from many people, but we are standing on the shoulders of amazing people who’ve come before us.

What we do is a little different though. Yes, when you make a loan on vittana.org, you’re enabling a student to get a degree and get a job — an immediate, giant step toward a better life. But, you’re doing something even bigger: you’re proving to the world — one student, one loan, one job at a time — that education matters.

Currently, student loans don’t exist in developing countries because of a strange Catch-22. Because no one has lent to students yet, because there isn’t a track record showing that students are worth the risk, big investors won’t fund student loans. But, at the same time, because they’re not funding student loans, no one can start lending and no track record ever gets proven.

But together, us little guys (and gals), $25 at a time, we can prove that education and student loans really do work. And as we do that, this thing takes on a completely different life of its own — just like microfinance before it, the big investors will begin funding student loan programs throughout the world and, voila, the door to education will swing open for tens of millions of students around the world.

At Vittana, we think it is amazing that, thanks to the power of the Internet, you and I can not only make tiny loans that empower students to leap ahead in life but, at the same time, create something so much bigger than ourselves.

The Vittana team and list of advisers is pretty impressive. How much easier is building a start-up with a highly experience team? How have you leveraged the collective experience in creating Vittana?

Vittana: Well, thank you. All of us at Vittana believe education — and access to education — is one of the most important, powerful forces in the world. What gets us up every morning is knowing that, together, we — Brett, Nick, our lenders and I — have an amazing chance to help build something so much bigger than all of us. Just this past week, our first students have been getting their first jobs and making their first repayments. Realizing that these are some of the first student loans to have ever been made in Paraguay, it has been truly humbling and inspiring:

The single most important, critical thing for any small, young organization is an absolutely committed, passionate team. We have that — it’s amazing what a few guys, a lot of caffeine, and lots of long nights and weekends can do. At the same time, we’ve been lucky to benefit from the support of some amazing people like Mike Murray, the founder of Unitus, and Mitch Kapor, the founder of ground-breaking organizations like Lotus, Mozilla and EFF, and so many other wonderful advisors.

When you combine the experience of our advisors — top executives from engineering, marketing, legal, microfinance backgrounds at companies like Amazon, Unitus, Grameen, Microsoft and Apple — and the passion of our core team, I really believe we can help do something very meaningful and lasting.

Quite a few online micro-finance programs exist now with both for-profit and non-profit models, yet none of them have really targeted education. How and why did you decide that your micro-finance niche needed to be education?

Vittana: When you think of everything we’ve been able to do — you and I — because of our education, there really isn’t a question about just how powerful education is. I was lucky enough to go to a wonderful school, UC Berkeley, but not many people get that chance — and outside the US and a few other countries, hardly anyone gets a chance. In places like Nicaragua, Peru or Mongolia, if you aren’t well off enough to pay for college yourself, you just don’t go.

We don’t really see this as a niche. When you ask microfinance borrowers why they do it, why they take out these loans in the first place, why they work so hard, you hear the same answer over and over again — because I want my children to have a better chance at life than I did. Yes, it’s the American dream but it’s also the Peruvian dream and the Nicaraguan dream and the Mongolian dream.

There is an entire generation coming up — the children of microfinance borrowers across the world — who are now growing up, who are wanting to go to college. They don’t have the means to go. No one else except you and I is even giving them a chance at it.

This isn’t a niche. It’s an entire generation.

Not-for-profit ventures can be a bit cash leaky in the initial stages. How does Vittana plan to become self-sustainable? (no trade secrets necessary here – basic principles work just fine).

Vittana: When you make a loan on vittana.org, we promise you that your entire loan goes to the student. When you do make a loan, however, you’re given the opportunity to make a small (completely optional) donation to Vittana to help us cover our costs. You don’t have to in any way, shape or form and we love you just the same even if you don’t, but we certainly appreciate it when you do.

How can people get involved with Vittana (in any way)?

Vittana: Over the last few weeks, the Vittana team has been working hard to make it possible for more and more students across the world to come online at http://vittana.org. Compared to last month, over five times as many students are now online. To keep growing and help students in more and more countries get access to college, we need you and people like you to make a small loan — as little as $25. Make a loan. Tell your friends. Help us get the word out.

Bonus: Take a 15-second video of yourself saying, “My name is _____ and I lend to students on Vittana because _____” and send it to why@vittana.org. You might just become the new star at Vittana.