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About Us
Mission
The mission of Ahkun.org is to connect entrepreneurs who have taken out a microloan with the global market. By creating an online marketplace, buyers from all over the world can find a product or an entrepreneur they want to buy from and Ahkun.org will arrange the shipping.
Just like Kiva.org, the entrepreneurs you see on our site are real individuals who want to sell their goods abroad. We hope to help each entrepreneur in two ways:
(1) By providing them access to a larger market.
(2) By allowing them to receive a higher price for their goods.
Ahkun.org is currently filling out the paperwork to become a registered non-profit in the United States. All proceeds from our operations will go to Kiva.org, the microfinance institutions that serve our entrepreneurs (in the form of a perpetual interest free loan), and to expanding the operations of Ahkun.org. We are currently starting up our organization, so most of our proceeds (if not all) will go towards establishing and expanding our operations.
One of the fundamental principles of Ahkun.org is transparency, so we will do our best to post as much information as we can about where profits go. Every product will have a description of the amount paid to the entrepreneur compared to the amount normally received.
Ahkun.org is in no way affiliated with Kiva.org. All the entrepreneurs have been on Kiva.org, and Ahkun.org donates a percentage of its profits to Kiva, but the two organizations are not affiliated. If you have any questions, problems or suggestions related to Ahkun.org please contact us, not Kiva, at admin@ahkun.org.
Team
Sanjaya Punyasena - Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Sanjaya is responsible for getting Ahkun up and running. He started Ahkun in April 2009 by making the website in his free time and has overseen Ahkun's slow but steady growth since then. Sanjaya first got into microfinance during his Kiva fellowship in 2008. Sanjaya enjoyed his fellowship so much that his 10-week fellowship turned into 5 months. He then continued to stay in Cambodia as the IT Project Coordinator and Partner Liaison for AMK where he is working to migrate AMK to a new loan tracking system and to use AMK's vast client network to market and sell products such as latrines and water filters. You can follow him on Twitter.
Anh-Thu Nguyen - Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
Based in New York, Anh-Thu heads Operations at Ahkun. She was previously a legal fellow at the International Center for Transitional Justice and has worked for organizations including the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, American Civil Liberties Union, and Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia.
Jeanne Su - Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer
Jeanne is the Ahkun guru of aesthetics and she's in charge of website content. She designed our amazing logo! (more info coming soon).
Board
Sanjaya Punyasena - Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Anh-Thu Nguyen - Co-Founder and Chief of Operations
Jeanne Su - Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer
Paul Luchtenburg - CEO of AMK Cambodia
Paul became the CEO of AMK in May 2007 and is responsible for the overall operations of AMK as well as leading the management and staff of AMK. He has more than 15 of years experience in microfinance and Cambodia. Previously Paul worked as the Senior Technical Advisor for World Relief and supported numerous organizations and MFIs in EurAsia from Mongolia to Kosovo. Paul has an MBA from Eastern University in Pennsylvania USA.
Gerhard Bruckermann - AMK Boardmember
Gerhard was the former CEO of DEPFA bank and is chief investor of Agora, a social investment fund.
Where Does The Money Go?
Ahkun is a social enterprise that is in the process of applying to become a registered non-profit. All proceeds will be split up in the following manner:
- Profits per product are estimated and then 25% of that will go to the borrower and 25% will go to the microfinance institution to support programs that they have that go beyond microfinance. This happens on a per item basis.
- At the end of each month, all remaining proceeds (once all costs are covered) are split between Kiva.org and Ahkun.org
- At the current time, everyone involved in Ahkun is a volunteer and is not receiving any compensation for their time.
Once we become an established organization, we also hope to do more for our entrepreneurs by financing projects that will provide sustainable benefits for their community.
