Don't Give Money to Charities This Holiday Season - Loan it to a Business

No I am not talking about bailouts, and I am obviously not suggesting that you not support your favorite charity; microfinance is a way to lend money to entrepreneurs who have good ideas, energy, initiative, and a real business, but lack capital. A relatively small amount of capital can help these businesses grow and thrive. For example, let's say you are a rice farmer in a small village in Cambodia, if you had a motorcycle you could get to the nearest big town and get a much better price for your rice. Only thing missing is the banker to cover the loan for the motorcycle. 

This is where microfinance comes in.Kiva is a site that makes it easy to be a "banker to the poor" and there is even a Team OWASP on Kiva, which has 33 loans in process, note Kiva's repayment rate on loans is over 99%, so to paraphrase Tom Barnett-  you don't have to wait for change from above, just get your own foreign policy.

Comments

[James]

+2 to team OWASP. I am making additional loans as they come available...