Monday, December 6, 2010

The power of microgrants

DISHES is slated to be a great party. This much we know.

You might not know the extent that microgrants and microloans have been proven to transform the lives of go-getters from Bangladesh to Burma.

Best known among them is Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Mohammed Yunus. Grameen Bank extends small loans to entrepreneurs in Bangladesh -- and charges affordable interest rates, which aren't easy to secure if you don't have any collateral to put up against the loan.

Kiva.org and TrickleUp are some of the U.S.-based organizations that enable donnors to give loans and grants to entrepreneurs in the developing world. (Kiva works with people in the States, too.)

Although the types of projects DISHES supports may differ from ones enabled by these other institutions, the spirit is the same: if everyone donates a little bit, our city -- and our lives -- will be the richer for it.

No comments:

Post a Comment