Anybody and everybody who has used the internet has most likely used Craigslist at some point or another.  Founded by Craig Newmark, Craigslist is a network of online communities, including sections that cover jobs, personals, housing, forums, services, and classifieds.  This week, Craig Newmark has officially announced that he is joining the Advisory Board for LendForPeace.org . Craig has alway been a supporter of peace initiatives in the Middle East, and with his experience as being one of the pioneers of community building, he should be a great asset to LendForPeace.org and can hopefully create some great microfinance initiatives in the Middle East and within the microfinance community.
Read the entire press release here.

Congrats to the team at Wokai for landing this CNBC spot!

Nick Macky at Grubby Lens recently posted a video about Wokai.org that came from shooting footage with Casey Wilson (Wokai CEO). I’d recommend watching it for those interested in learning more about the background of Wokai.

Facebook for Farmers from grubbylens on Vimeo.

The microfinance lending platform LenderForPeace.org recently made news on FOX Business.  Here’s a clip of the story:

Microfinance lending platforms are part of a new wave of innovative websites that help connect people like you and me with entrepreneurs around the world.  I’m sure it’s no secret which platform I prefer, however, I like to give each up and coming platform a fair trial, so I always like to highlight any new platforms so that people can make their own decision.
Last week, LendForPeace.org was officially launched by four students from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.  Here’s a few words from the founders themselves:

“Using our site, you can make a loan directly to a vetted micro-entrepreneur in the West Bank.  We work with US government-approved microfinance institutions on the ground to deliver your capital along with training and guidance to low-income individuals who are interested in starting or expanding their own small businesses.  Your loan is repaid over a set period of time as your micro-entrepreneur builds economic self-sufficiency and a stake in peace.
Founded by two Jews and two Palestinians, LendforPeace.org (“LFP”) was created to enable people of all faiths and backgrounds to make a tangible difference in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  To learn more about our mission, read a Message from the Founders.”

LendForPeace is a pretty straight forward lending platform that gets right to the point, and doesn’t require a lot of hoops to jump through.  For people that are newer to microfinance lending, this is a huge plus because they won’t be distracted from what they are trying to do.  I am also a huge fan of microfinance platforms that focus on certain geographic regions.  Similar to Wokai’s bold move in China, LendForPeace focuses primarily in the Palestinian territories, which as we all know in quite the hotspot.
Ryan Hogarth, from Microcapital.org, goes into depth about LendForPeace in his article “MICROCAPITAL STORY: A Kiva-like Internet Microfinance Brokerage “Lend-for-Peace” is Founded for Palestine.”

At first glance, LendForPeace.org seems very promising.  I am excited to make my first loan and to see what kind of impact it can have.  If anybody has any feedback or would like to share an experience with LendForPeace.org, feel free to let us all know.

Learn more microfinance lending platforms.

I was reading a good article on livemint.com called “Big Microfinance Firms Taking Over Clients of Smaller Players,” and in it Vikram Akula, the founder and CEO of SKS Microfinance, discusses how smaller MFIs are having a hard time getting funding, so SKS is helping out a lot of their recipients:

“Banks are lending only to large MFIs. We are in a strong position. We are holding discussions with MFIs who are facing strain and helping them by taking over their clients,”

Since there are so many small MFIs out there who are having trouble finding funding, why do MFIs run out of people to loan to?  It has happened multiple times that I have gone to microfinance lending platforms and have not been able to loan money.  If these small MFIs in India are having trouble getting money for their recipients, why don’t they reach out to these organizations?  The article also mentions that there is a demand for 55 billion dollars while India currently only provides about 5 billion in microfinance loans.  If the people are out there, wouldn’t it just be a matter of connecting them to the right organizations?  It seems like there are plenty of lenders ready to donate to individual recipients, but not so many who are willing to donate to MFIs. What if there was a microfinance lending platform that was similar to Kiva and Microplace, but instead of donating money to individual recipients, you could donate to different MFIs?  Lenders could give loans to MFIs, who would in turn give loans to entrepreneurs.  The loans would have to be for a longer term than normal since they would most likely be bigger loans.  The model could be either non-profit or provide a return, depending on the business model, and it could help smaller MFIs who are having a harder time coping with the current economic crisis.  Of course there would be pros and cons to lending platform, but I think that if they were weighed out, the pros would win.

Learn more microfinance lending platforms.

Ever since we have launched mykro.org, I have had a lot of people who were interested in hearing about different lending platforms that are similar to Kiva.  There are a lot of lending platform that give the lender a return on their loan, but I have found very few where you can just lend money to people in need without getting a return.  I recently came across a company that has a great new concept.  United Prosperity, which is set to launch soon, is a person to person loan guaranteeing website.  Rather than providing funding for the full loan of an entrepreneur, the lender only pays enough for the collateral, that way the recipient can get a full loan from a bank or other financial center.  For more information about United Prosperity, take a look at their website, and watch for the launch of their beta version shortly.

It’s no suprise that I am a big fan of microfinance lending platforms.  I have always been a big supporter of Kiva and Microplace, but am always looking for new platforms to join.  Recently, I discussed the launch of a new platform called Veecus, which is a new organization in the microfinance scene.

However, one of the newest platforms out there might not sound so new.  Wokai, who has been working on launching their new platform, has been discussing their journey through their blog.  Recently, Wokai announced that they are launching a pilot version of their lending platform.  With the pilot platform, Wokai is looking for 200 people to test out the site by making $50 in contributions directly to microentrepreneurs in Inner Mongolia, and providing feedback on this process.

Here is a short video clip describing their new platform: