microfinance
EBay: The Place for Microfinance
Thu, 25/10/2007 - 14:14 — Triss Grayby Catherine Holahan
On the online auction giant's new MicroPlace site, investors can lend as little as $50 to would-be small business owners around the globe.
Tracey Pettengill Turner doesn't want to give handouts to poor people. But she does want to make investments in them. So on Oct. 24, Turner is launching MicroPlace.com, a Web site that lets small investors provide low-interest "micro" loans, of $50 or more, to would-be small business owners. Her hope is to create sustainable economic growth in the world's most impoverished communities-and do her part to expand the reach of the microfinance industry to more than 1 billion people worldwide, from about 100 million people currently. read more »
I heard lots of good things about microfinancing in the past, and if this means a convenient way to contribrute, so more people will contribute, it sounds good... The only thing that makes me wonder is what ebay get's out of this... Since they won't be charging for contributions (or so they promise), what's their gain? Publicity? Or am I to believe such a corporate moloch as Ebay (ebay, skype, paypal) has a genuine interest for "making the world a better place"?
I think i'm going to read up a bit on this, if it proves legit, maybe we could do an event to raise some money? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on both the article and/ or the event!
