Kiva

They say "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, Teach him how to fish and he eats for the rest of his life." You can also modify the last sentence to say "Lend him some money to buy a fishing rod and some bait and he eats for the rest of his life." Ofcourse,Here you assume that the person knows how to fish and you also have reason to believe that he would repay you. What am I talking about, eh ? - Microfinance !

I first heard about Micro finance way back in 2006 when Mohammed Yunus, the founder of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts to bring about socio-economic development among the poorest households in Bangladesh. "Micro credit" is one of those ideas that make sense to one's heart and mind. It gives you a sense of happiness and satisfaction in being able to give somebody an opportunity to improve their lot and by holding the borrower responsible for repayment, it makes them duty-bound to spend the money wisely.

I have always believed that opportunities and motivation can do far more good than free lunches. It builds self-esteem, self-confidence and helps people move from hopelessness to having hope to giving hope (the last one being my metric to judge true success).

I am a member of Kiva, which is a person-to-person micro lending institution, that lets you to lend money to entrepreneurs around the globe. They could range from Asian farmers wanting to try a new crop, South American fish mongers wanting to buy more fish, African self-employed women wanting to do more to educate their children and many more. Take a look for yourself on the Kiva website to read about who they are and how they work.

Also, click here to read more about Micro finance institutions in India.