MicroFinance, Grameen & Kiva

You may have heard of the Nobel Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus who started Grameen Bank, offering micro-finance or micro-credit: small loans (not charity) to impoverished entrepeneurs across the globe.

There are a lot of micro-banks around now and they provide a very powerful alternative to charity - nevertheless, very few enable ordinary individuals like you or me to get involved. 

Kiva was started by a young couple - Jennifer & Matt Flannery - who came up with a very simple way individuals can make a very small loan, at very little risk, to make a big and tangible difference. Kiva is now one of the world's largest micro-finance facilitators and for me a brilliant way to empower some of the world's disadvantaged but hardworking entrepeneurs. 

It's a great example of Gen Y innovation and leadership... check out this short podcast:  Learn About Kiva or check out the website - there's a link on the right sidebar (Little Loans...). 

Getting real

 It's a book about writing computer programs.... why on earth am I reading it? Apart from the fact that it's free and online it's exciting and applicable to many aspects of work!! Source: http://gettingreal.37signals.com

Two rules and a quote I love:

1. When you're in start up phase of a project, work with a team of three... 

too many ideas die before they escape bloated teams and committees. (I'm paraphrasing but yes....multitask and keep it tight and fast)

2. Let limitations guide you to creative solutions (I love this one - here's the (almost) full quote:

There's never enough to go around. Not enough time. Not enough money. Not enough people.

That's a good thing.

Instead of freaking out about these constraints, embrace them. Let them guide you. Constraints drive innovation and force focus. Instead of trying to remove them, use them to your advantage.

When 37signals was building Basecamp, we had plenty of limitations....

We felt the "not enough" blues. So we kept our plate small. That way we could only put so much on it. We took big tasks and broke them up into small bits that we tackled one at a time. We moved step by step and prioritized as we went along.

That forced us to come up with creative solutions ...
Constraints are often advantages in disguise...[stop waiting or asking for more Oliver! Get creative and] work with what you have.

3. And the quote?

[Innovation] comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.

Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple (from The Seed of Apple's Innovation)

Haven't checked out their software yet but Basecamp looks pretty cool so will have a closer look soon.