Make a Difference in the World

Make a Difference in the World

Reaching out and helping someone, given the financial times that we are in, can be challenging. Recently families have been experiencing the impacts of a slowing economy, the high price of fuel and the constraint of disposable income are all factors that each of us face. These economic factors hit many small companies long before Wall Street felt them or the Bail-out was announced. Many of those companies had to lay off large portions of their relatively small staff after years of dedicated service. Many were left with no choice.

Some families are fortunate enough that, while the impacts are great, they are not completely devastating. Small adjustments in the way they grocery shop and combine trips to save fuel help balance out the loss of income. Putting off buying some of the things that would have been an automatic buy when employed, small things really when compared to the bigger picture of the world.

Daily routines have changed from going to work to searching for work. People have quickly gone from eight to ten hours a day providing a service to eight to ten hours a day searching the internet for gainful employment. Networking groups both virtual and live now consume their days and creep into the evenings. Like many things in today's world, the job search is now primarily done on-line. Job boards, networking - both professional and social, employment services and the like start with you logging-in instead of stopping in. When days turned to weeks and weeks are quickly moving towards months. Many who were once intimidated by the thought of social network and forums have become quite efficient scanning the job boards and other services, submitting applications and cover-letters in record time and moving on with their new daily routine. It is during these searches that people have the opportunity to rediscovered the world around them and the needs of others less fortunate.

One such find is the micro-financing organizations of the world. What are micro-financing organizations? The better question would be what do micro-financing organizations do? In a nutshell, micro-financing organizations are made up of individual people pooling their money together and loaning it to those less fortunate through the network of global micro-financing organizations.

Here's how they work:

1) Lenders (every day people) browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When you lend the micro-financing organization collects the funds and then passes them along to one of their micro-finance partners worldwide.

2) Their micro-finance partners throughout the world distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, their partners will provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur's chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on the entrepreneurs profile and many of these micro-financing organizations will email updates directly to you if you wish.

4) When you get your money back, and yes there are risks so you do need to research, you can re-lend to someone else in need, or withdraw your funds.

Just one example of how micro-financing can work is the story of Mr. Aliyev.

"Fezret Aliyev is a 52-year-old butcher. He is married and has three children. Fezret started his business in 1995 and since that time he has gained the respect of his permanent clients. He runs his business in the heart of the central bazaar. Every day local farmers bring him livestock for meat, but Fezret's working day finishes too fast because he sells all the meat in about four hours. Fezret wants to improve his financial situation by purchasing more meat each day. To do this, he needs more funds, so he is applying for a loan of $1200 USD."

Share this post