E-Commerce Times: Taking Internet Finance to the Next Level, Part 2: A Case Study
Peer-to-peer consumer lending sites are shaking up the world of Internet finance. Be it the Internet or broadband wide-area networks, growing capabilities and increasing standardization are changing the way finance organizations do business, as Part 1 of this series discusses.
The Net is also a key enabler facilitating the rising prominence of the microfinance, as well as the corporate social responsibility and ethical investing movements. It is also democratizing philanthropy by making it possible for everyday people to contribute small amounts of money to people and aspiring entrepreneurs in Third World countries.
In the wake of microfinancier Muhammad Yunus being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to establish the microfinance world's Grameen Bank, the Net is the vehicle of choice for the growing number of new organizations turning to microfinance as a means of promoting sustainable socio-economic development in developing and poverty stricken regions and countries around the world.
Perhaps the most significant thing of lasting value that Jessica and Matt Flannery brought home with them after working for a nonprofit organization doing community development work in Uganda in 2004 wasn't an overwhelming sense of poverty, despair or corruption.
Rather, it was an appreciation for the quiet dignity and perseverance of underprivileged people striving to make good in an environment where even the most basic resources are hard to come by, and public or private sector services and support are starkly in absence. It was that which led them to start Kiva.org, said public relations director Fiona Ramsey. …
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