Information Technology Dark Side

Kiva.org is bringing micro-finance to you, the newest micro-lender. I’ve been watching micro-finance for the last couple of years because of its positive use of investment dollars to help entrepreneurs in third-world countries. I’m affiliated with a charitable organization that has been using a micro-finance approach in similar ways for almost two hundred years, so I was really pleased to see it becoming a more mainstream investment. The way it works is simple. Micro-lending institutions have reps in third world countries that make small loans to entrepreneurs to grow their business. They collect information about the loan applicant, their business plan, etc and post it to kiva.org. You use Kiva.org to review potential investments and then decide how much you want to loan. If you’re afraid of losing all your money due to a default, you should know the default rate on micro-loans is historically extremely low, compared to say… American credit card default rates. Anyway, ComputerWorld featured kiva.org recently. Check out the article and then find a nice coffee shop in Bulgaria you can help get a much needed remodel. I’m going to let my kids pick loans they can make with a portion of their savings, although I have a hard time convincing my daughter not to just give them the money.

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