Now you can volunteer your time instead of your cash. Instead of just giving $5 to your favorite organization, what if you could get something valuable and creative in return? Raise5 lets people sell their own items and then helps them give the proceeds away.
Read More »
As Philip Auerswald tweeted from Clinton Global Initiative this afternoon, “President Clinton: 'When you look all around the world what people really want is a job or a business.'"
Small and growing businesses in emerging markets typically receive investments of $20,000 to $2 million--far greater than the average microfinance investment ($973), and far lower than most private equity investments. Within the past year, investments in SGBs were nearly half of the amount of the entire last decade--here's the story behind the explosion of interest.
Want to do more for local businesses than simply shopping in them? How about a loan? A new platform combines microfinance and crowdsourcing to give you a chance to give helpful cash infusions to your favorite small businesses.
During a recent visit to Michelin, their CEO was proud to share an initiative where Michelin had allocated $2 million for lending to local small businesses in light of the economic crisis. Its success got me thinking, "Why hasn't the domestic micro-finance model moved to the forefront of options for small businesses today?"
My mother and father had me marching for peace. I was just a few months old in my mother's arms. My parents, wearing long hair and chanting songs, like remnants of the '60s, spent 1971 doing what they could to put an end to a civil war and help a new state--Bangladesh--emerge as independent.
A microfinance pilot project pioneered in Africa turned into one of the world's most successful mobile banking systems thanks to one woman's bus fare getting stolen. Now the service could make its way to the United Kingdom.
