Make Poverty Business

In an earlier blog entry we discussed Kiva, which allows individuals to make loans directly to entrepeneurs in developing countries. Kiva does not pay interest and is primarily a philanthropic activity.  However other peer-to-peer lending networks are emerging which also offer a financial return. Zopa have just announced that their lenders made an average 9.1% return in the last 12 months, which is pretty good in current market conditions. You can lend to a pool of borrowers, thereby reducing risk, or select specific borrowers from a set of profiles, thus introducing a personal, more philanthropic element to your lending.