microLINKS, a knowledge-sharing family of applications and tools designed to improve the impact of USAID microenterprise programs and activities, hosts a series of online conferences discussing issues around microfinance and microenterprise called Speaker’s Corner.  Speaker’s Corner brings together professionals and experts from microfinance to discuss resources, ideas, and opinions about various topics.  The next series is:

September 16-18 Speaker’s Corner: Outsourcing Options for Microfinance Institutions

 Outsourcing core banking systems may be a viable opportunity for smaller microfinance institutions to increase their efficiency and capacity. Hosted by Alice Liu, this Speaker’s Corner will focus on the concerns and opportunities related to outsourcing. Learn more and register today.

Earlier this month, Microplace jumped into the blogging ring with the launch of their own blog — the initial post was written by Janet Bumpster, who is their resident blogger. Head on over to the Community section of MicroPlace and check it out or subscribe to their RSS feed.

Sorry it’s taken me so long to officially welcome MicroPlace to the blogosphere, but welcome nonetheless!

Here’s a short video from Microloan Foundation. The foundation was founded in 2002 and now provides microfinance services in Malawi, Zambia and the Philippines.

• TMR: The Top 10 Myths of Microfinance Series… Part 1 of 5
• Microfinance moves mainstream
• What Happened
• Unbelievable Social Start-Ups – Microfinance
• The 7 Things You Must Research and Understand Before Starting a Microfinance Institution

On the 21st and 22nd of October, the 2008 Microfinace and New Technology Summit will be held in New Delhi India.

Here is some information about this year’s Summit:

Summit Objectives:

• To raise awareness among the ICT companies of the untapped market in microfinance
• To increase knowledge about ICT solutions and their impact on the sector within the microfinance industry.
• To address the need for regulation enabling ICT use in microfinance.

Target audience:

• MFI’s and Microfinance Practitioners
• ICT Companies and Individuals
• Regulatory Authorities
• Donors and Public Agencies

If you are interested, here is the registration page.

I’ve seen it happen a few times before, but it always makes me so happy when I go to Kiva and see that they are out of people to loan to because so many people are donating.

Another cool feature that Kiva has launched is Kiva Vision.  Kiva Vision shows you, real time, who is making loans on Kiva. Every time a loan is made, the world map moves to show you who made it and where they are.

There’s no better way to watch the whole world doing good, right now.

• Development needs Management
• Phnom Penh Notes: Sweaty Jeans, Magic, and Black Smoke
• IBM, Intel, Microsoft target micro finance for social, capital returns
• Cow Banks: credit at work for the poorest of the poor
• MicroFinance: The Next Generation (Part One of a three part series)

CGAP has just opened their annual Microfinance Photo contest, with this years theme: Innovators and Entrepreneurs.  Microfinance has inspired people in third world countries to raise themselves out of poverty, now let them inspire us through some amazing photos. For those of you who are eager to start snapping away, here are the guidelines.

If anybody needs a little more motivation, here are some pictures that will make you want to pack up your things and go travel the world:

• 2007 photo contest
• 2006 photo contest

I love the concept of Kiva Lending Teams that enables Kiva lenders to band together to alleviate poverty — I like the functionality so much that I went ahead and created a Kiva Lending team for myKRO.org. If you are reading this blog, you are at least somewhat interested in helping to alleviate poverty through microfinance. That being the case, I want to recruit each and every one of you to our lending team, myKRO.org, on Kiva. Just as when you loan on your own, you still choose who to lend to — whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq — and as they repay the loan, you get your money back. Once you’re a part of the team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva “count” towards our team’s impact. The loan is still yours, and repayments still come to you – but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team’s collective portfolio!

This is just one small step, but if we all work together, we can help make alleviating poverty a reality. Click here to join the myKRO.org Lending Team.

This video is 55 minutes long, but it’s well worth watching if you want to learn more about the impact of microfinance over the past 30 years, and about the future prospects of microfinance to help alleviate poverty.