Microfinance and Microcredit Investment

Le (faux) procès du microcrédit qui masque ses (vraies) réussites Prenant prétexte de conflits de pouvoir autour de la célèbre Grameen Bank, les médias mettent en procès la microfinance, jetant l'heureux bébé du microcrédit avec l'eau sale du bain de ses excès. Depuis quelques semaines, la microfinance occupe à nouveau les devants de la scène. L’éviction du Professeur Yunus de la tête de la Grameen Bank et plus largement les messages très négatifs véhiculés sur ce secteur menacent une fois de plus ce bel outil de développement. La microfinance est-elle réellement menacée ou condamnée comme l’annoncent certains ? MBS Dashboard - Pricing, Charts and Commentary There's not a lot of "updating" or commentary to be done when bond markets are behaving as expected. With that in mind, markets continue to trade as expected following this morning's initial move. Also to be expected is a general lack of big moves the day before NFP. Essentially, our best chance for a big move would have been a crazy ECB Announcement this morning, followed by crazy strong economic data, subsequently causing snowball selling in Treasuries and major spillover into MBS. Without that "stuff" in play, there's not much left to do apart from simply meandering noncommittally back into the previous range and waiting for NFP.

Visualized: Over 4 Million Micro-Loans Fly Around the Globe Kiva is a company that facilitates micro-loans between people from all over the world; incidentally, nothing to do with the Finnish KiVA. With the help of this non-profit, anyone can donate as little as $25 or as much as the sum of any single loan — you can read the stories of many different people seeking financial support across the globe; there are students, farmers, entrepreneurs and those looking to improve their physical living conditions. Kiva released a video visualizing the micro-loans that happened across the world in its five-year lifespan — a total of 4 million loans in 4 minutes: 620,000 lenders funding 615,000 entrepreneurs. Get inspired, and make a loan today — it’s a simple way to help a real person.

Open Collaboration - The Next Economic Paradigm I’ve dedicated a lot of research over the last few years to understanding the deep trends that will define the next economy. As I’ve written elsewhere, the global economy goes through a creative-destructive cycle every 50 years. And now we’re in the midst of a collapsing paradigm that is soon to be replaced by something new. Combining the power of microfinance and technology to defeat global poverty. Jing Daily: The Business of Luxury and Culture in China Bitcoin luxury e-tailer BitPremier has its sights on the China market. (BitPremier) While China’s flourishing Bitcoin market has attracted intense speculation and economic optimism, the digital currency’s anonymous nature and unregulated status make it poised to significantly affect online business in the mainland. Bitcoin is a web-based digital currency that has recently been enjoying immense popularity throughout the world. With no physical presence—transactions are made through its shared and completely digital client—the identities of its users are easily rendered anonymous. There are two ways to obtain Bitcoins: the first is simply to buy them at one of many exchange websites, while the other is to generate new Bitcoins via the complicated and expensive process of “mining”, which involves using high-powered computers to crack dense mathematical formulas that add new Bitcoins into circulation and simultaneously protect the system from hackers.

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