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Micro-lending

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Giving Women Credit: Pro Mujer Loans $1 Billion

The microfinance organization Pro Mujer is celebrating a milestone, having loaned to poor women one billion dollars since its inception in 1990. "Women in developing countries hold the key to their futures," says Lynne Patterson, founder of the nonprofit group with the name means "Pro Women" in Spanish. 270,000 women have lifted themselves and their […]

LinkedIn Founder Lets 40,000 People Lend His Fortune to Others

Reid Hoffman, one of Silicon Valley's most successful entrepreneurs, has pledged one million dollars in micro-loans on the Kiva website to help tiny businesses around the globe. The cool part is that you can take $25 of that fortune and direct it to the borrower you think deserves it the most. There are still 3,178 free trials available for you to funnel $25.00 of Hoffman's money to the global citizen of your choice.

Tribals See Lights in Their Homes for the First Time

Tribal communities in some of the most remote and inaccessible forests in India were lifted out of the darkness and given hope for a better future. After never having electricity in their homes, they can now turn on solar lights and charge cell phones, an advancement that has kicked-off development for the entire village.

Banker to the Poor Wins Nobel Prize, Reinvests Winnings

Bangladeshi Banker to the Poor, Muhammad Yunus, and his Grameen Bank are winners of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to help lift millions of women and men from poverty, nurturing their small business dreams with tiny loans as small as $20 each.

World On Track to Cut Poverty in Half, But Turner and Gates Called in to Boost Other Goals

Despite the global economic downturn, the world is still on track to meet a key U.N. goal of halving the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015, according a UN report. Other Millenium Goals are not similarly on track, so UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon created a star-powered committee that will try to spark progress against all eight welfare problems named in the goals.

More than 100 Million of the World's Poorest Have Received Microloan

More than 106 million of the world's poorest families received a microloan in 2007, surpassing a goal set ten years earlier, according to a report released last month by the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Microloans are used to help people living in extreme poverty start or expand a range of tiny businesses such as husking rice, selling tortillas, and delivering cell phone services to remote villages.