Recently, I saw Peter Mansbridge interview Muhammad Yunus. I think I had heard about him a few years ago when his idea of micro-finance was first reported on the news, or maybe when he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
The whole idea of lending very small amounts of money to the very poor just seemed to make sense. I think I smiled, and then I went on with my life.
If you have an hour, you can watch Yunus describe his work at Google, or you can watch Charlie Rose interview him.
Enter Web 2.0. Also recently, Seth Godin pointed me to kiva.org. It’s a web service that allows all of us to participate in the micro-financial market that Muhammad Yunus invented.
I’m blown away. Go there, join, and get started.
If you have gone there, and you still need a reason, here’s a few…
- Instead of giving $10 to charity, lend it (directly to an actual poor entrepreneur), get it back, and then lend it again. Rinse and repeat.
- Empower and educate poor women.
- Actually see the effects of your loan, and read about the successes of the people you’ve helped.
- If you’ve given a few thousand dollars after a long time, and you hit hard times, and you need your lent money back, get it back.
- This could not be simpler. If you can use Facebook, you can change the world with kiva.org.
