Saturday, July 26th, 2008 by Dario Meli

Posted by Dario Meli
* This blog post is part of Invoke’s participation in the 2008 Vancouver Blogathon for Charity

5. It isn’t a handout (lender) – From a lender’s perspective microfinance is excellent because you get to directly effect somebody’s effort to better their lives. And once you have aided in bettering the community you get your money back so you can do it all over again! With just $25 you can continually lend to new, enterprising individuals. This is seriously rewarding. Start now.

4. It isn’t a handout (recipient) – People who work hard and earn the things they have are more responsible with them than those who simply receive a handout. This is not a new concept. Having a sense of empowerment and control over your destiny is an exceptional motivator.

3. Women – An overwhelming number (97%) of participants/recipients in global microfinance are women. This suggests microfinance helps to correct discrimination in capital markets.

2. Loan repayment rates – According to kiva.org’s records the loan repayment rate is 98.3% (default rate: 1.7%). Grameen Bank’s default rate is 2%. This is far superior when compared against the 60-90% default rates in some of the same region’s commercial sectors. It also bests default rates in the United States which is approximately 4%.

1. Anybody can participate – It has never been easier for average individuals to make a difference. Take 4 minutes to setup a Kiva account now and change the world!

Tags: change the world, grameen bank, kiva, microfinance, women

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Blogathon, Charity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.