Travels in microfinance: 20 countries, 5 continents, 1 best job ever
bob
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Homepage: http://www.bobharris.com
Posts by bob
SyFy packages my Caprica guide with season 1 DVD
Sep 3rd
Hey, neat! The NBC Universal store is now bundling my DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to Caprica with season 1.0 on DVD. Right here, in fact, or just click on the pic.
My 1800th Kiva loan: 50,000 Ugandan shillings (about 25 bucks)
Aug 22nd
Meet Sharifa, a 19-year-old who sells vegetables and charcoal in Uganda.
Sharifa needs USh 200,000 to grow her business (a little under $100). Eventually she’d like to open a beauty salon. She learned her business skills through a program run through the microfinance place managing her loan, BRAC Uganda.
I don’t know about you, but there’s no way I can look at this young lady and not chip in $25 toward her loan via my team at Kiva.org. (You almost always get paid back, btw — the repayment rate is close to 100 percent.)
Sharifa’s is the 1800th business I’ve invested in so far via Kiva. So far, out of over $45,000 I’ve sent out, I’ve lost less than 30 bucks. And after visiting entrepreneurs on four continents so far, I’ve seen how much good this can do with my own eyes. (If you like the idea, join my team and get started right now!)
I’m hoping to visit the good folks of BRAC Uganda on the next trip for the book.
More to come!
Coming soon: giant fun following teeny-tiny loans
This blog is increasingly about my work and travel for The 1st International Bank of Bob, my upcoming book about microfinance (“MiFi”) for Bloomsbury.
After my 2008 round-the-world luxury hotel reviews for Forbes Traveler, I took the money from that gig and plowed it into more than 1800 microloans in 53 countries, almost all via Kiva.org. Now I’m traveling the developing world to see the results, meet amazingly strong people, and share their creative and inspiring stories.
This space will soon carry stories and pics from along the way. If you’d like me to speak to your group, here’s a video sample and here’s the place to call.
If you’re popping in from BoingBoing, TMW, or HuffPo, please bookmark and come back. Updates will increase in frequency shortly. Thanks!
#Kiva gets $5m grant! Go Kiva!
Aug 13th
The Omidyar Network (which sounds like a Turkish ESPN but is actually a philanthropic investment firm founded by the dude behind eBay) just tossed $5million to Kiva.org.
It’s the biggest grant in Kiva’s history, and they’ll use it to further spiff up the website, hook up with more microlenders in the field, and generally do more good do-gooding more.
If you’re not up on the whole Kiva thing, the quick intro is here. And if you haven’t yet joined my lending team, we’ve made more than 2400 loans to mom-and-pop shoestring operations in more than 50 countries. Hop on board here!
USAID sets up Iraqi microfinance institution
Aug 12th
Hurray. But this is one MFI that I won’t be visiting for the book.
NY Times: More stuff ≠ happiness
Aug 10th
Nice visit with reality. But it’s no way to sell ads for luxury goods in the rest of the paper.
How cell phones = banks in the 3rd world
Aug 5th
It’s microfinance on speed-dial: from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, check out how ordinary cell phones are transforming finance in the developing world.
And here people think the iPad is a game-changing technology.
Will a $353 million IPO help a billion people in poverty?
Aug 4th
Indian microlender SKS, whose village loans typically run $100, just blew out the doors on its IPO, anchored by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and other global names.
A harbinger of the world’s poorest becoming just another profit center for the world’s richest? Or an inevitable growth stage of a successful model, a natural expansion of a system that encourages self-sufficiency for the poor? Or both?
Comic-Con’s genius slogan
Jul 24th
“Celebrating the popular arts.”
Finally — somebody is standing up for things that everyone already likes.
So desperately needed.
Beyond Caprica: My New DK Sci-Fi Travel Guide
I just found out a few weeks ago that I’m about to have a new book-type thingy published.
Last year, my dear friend Jane was running Caprica (the Battlestar Galactica prequel), and on the strength of my real-world travel writing and the country summaries in Who Hates Whom, she thought I’d be a good choice to devise backstories for the show’s planets (the “colonies of Kobol”), amplifying the existing tangential references in the original BSG into fuller political histories, giving Caprica’s writers an internal bible for consistency.
Naturally, I jumped at the chance — this was like being a Star Trek fan in 1968 and being asked to write the show’s history of the Romulans for use in future episodes.
I didn’t figure this would be published, but whoa — turns out NBC/Universal has edited my memo to fit the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide format, licensed the resulting pamphlet with DK, and published a limited run as if it’s a real full-color DK travel guide to be released in a limited run at the San Diego Comic Con — but it’s also on sale at the NBC store.
I don’t think this will ever be in stores, so if the show becomes a cult like BSG, it could become a collector’s item.
Neat!
My 650th Kiva loan
Sep 5th
Goes to this group of 20 small entrepreneurs in Trou-du-Nord, Haiti.
If you’re just tuning in, I’m writing a book about microfinance for Bloomsbury. Kiva is quickly becoming the microfinance equivalent of eBay. Great place to start if you’re interested.
Want to do something cool today? Go visit, open an account, and loan a few bucks halfway around the world. (Hundreds of loans now, I haven’t lost a dollar yet. That’s unusual, but their default rate is less than two percent.) It’s not charity; you get the money back, they get to build their business, and you get to keep loaning the money right back out, over and over if you like.
My plan is to make 1000 loans this year. I’m a little behind right now, but I’ll catch up. After that, I’ll just keep re-loaning the same money over and over. It’s a great addiction, if you’re looking for one. Highly recommended.
