Experimental wiki for the EntConnect entrepreneurs conference

We are experimenting with using wiki technology for the EntConnect entrepreneurs conference.

The EntConnect wiki "home" page is here.

The schedule for EntConnect 2009 is here, for posterity.

-- Jack Krupansky

Made my Kiva micro-loan for the month of April

I made a new micro-loan through Kiva for the month of April. My intention is to make a new micro-loan every month, in large part from repayments for past micro-loans.

This one was for a man and his wife who has been selling toys and children's clothes in Mongolia for eight years now, to expand their business. It is a 26-month micro-loan for a total of $1,150, of which I lent $25. Its first repayment is scheduled for June 2009. The micro-loan was already disbursed to them on March 30, 2009 by the local partner. Kiva is raising funds to essentially buy that loan from the local partner.

Here is my Kiva public lender page: http://www.kiva.org/lender/JackKrupansky

Note: This is all real and good, but these micro-loans do not net any interest to us micro-lenders. Kiva's fine print:

Lending to the working poor through Kiva involves risk of principal loss.
Kiva does not guarantee repayment nor do we offer a financial return on your loan.

Still, at least we know our money is really helping somebody better their lives in a visible way rather than put the money in a bank account or money market fund where who knows what it helps to pay for or what good it does and for only a few pennies of profit in our pockets.

-- Jack Krupansky