Wednesday, October 31, 2007

eBay's MicroPlace for MicroFinance

eBay just launched MicroPlace, a website that allows people from all over the world to invest with small business owners. What a novel idea. An earlier site called Kiva started something similar but what makes MicroPlace different is investors can earn interest back on their money. MicroPlace is a for-profit entity while Kiva is a non-profit. And MicroPlace channels the money to MicroFinance institutions who use the money in their lending programs. Investors can lend as little as $50 to small business owners around the globe.

MicroPlace's maxim is "Invest Wisely.End Poverty".

Another great example of technology helping to make the world better everyday, and harnessing the internet to allow people from every corner of the globe to help each other out.