Wow – I’ve been following micr0-loans and micro-finance since I visited my friend Chandra Reddy Metzler, now a senior investment banker in emerging markets, when she lived in Nairobi, Kenya on a Fullbright for 6 months in the year 2000. She was working at an NGO which explored the use of social collateral to secure micro-loans for small entrepreneurs in Kenya.
That was my first exposure to the concept of using business solutions to solve poverty problems. A loan is so much more powerful than a charitable handout. The borrower feels empowered, trusted, and respected. The repayment rates of micro-loans are in the 90th percentile. Its working and its now spread all over the world.
Up until this point, if you wanted to support a micro-finance initiative, you had to give to an organization which then handed out the loans.
NOW you can fund small businesses DIRECTLY! I came across this cool organization on the Ode Magazine website, one of my favorite websites. You can read about the projects and the people behind the projects. Make your own decisions, and see how such a small donation can make such a huge impact on someone’s life.
Check it out!