Kiva, the first web-based p2p business making it possible for anyone to lend to a specific microentrepreneur in the developing world -empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty- has been given the official status as a nonprofit, or 501(c)3 (Kiva’s article) One can choose a business/microentrepreneur and start making loans from US 25 dollars using a PC and a Paypal account. I sincerely congratulate Jessica and Matthew Flannery for their terrific work in making Kiva what it is today. I have been following Kiva from last year and it has been fascinating to see how it has grown exponentially from a website showing one MFI in Uganda and a small list of microentrepreneurs to a major portal connecting people to microentrepreneurs from around the globe by partnering with numerous MFIs. Business Week ran an article on Kiva this summer with a spot-on title. An Ebay for Microfinance.

Empowering people is one of the main benefits of microfinance and microfranchising. While promoting this area I had the opportunity to meet in the past years a number of extraordinary people that have been making huge contributions on “empowering people”.
Bill Drayton and Hernando de Soto are two of such amazing people.
Bill Drayton founded Ashoka, a citizen organization that identifies, supports and invests in social entrepreneurs-extraordinary individuals with unprecedented ideas to solve large-scale social problems. Ashoka Fellows (leading social entrepreneurs selected by Ashoka) are supported by stipends so they can focus in their project and are also supported through guidance and networking to a larger community. They are more than 1700 Fellows worldwide making necessary and needed changes for the society. I strongly recommend anyone interested to see the short video on their home page.
Hernando de Soto, one of the most respected and influential economists, founded ILD (The Institute for Liberty and Democracy) in Peru. Hernando’s thesis on why capitalism does not work in the majority of countries is grounded on the lack of a comprehensive and usable rule of law and property rights in most countries. His seminal work “The Mystery of Capital” explains his concept and the ILD has received requests from the political leadership of some 30 countries around the world.