KIVA – Loans that change lives

While reading Stanford News Magazine came across this story:

Kiva means “unity” in Swahili, and was founded in October 2005 by Matt and Jessica Flannery ( Stanford University Alumni)

What ? :Kiva Microfunds is an organization that allows people to lend money via the Internet to small businesses in developing countries

How it Works ? :Kiva allows microfinance institutions around the world, called "Field Partners", to post profiles of qualified local entrepreneurs on its website. Lenders browse and choose an entrepreneur they wish to fund. Kiva aggregates loan capital from individual lenders and transfers it to the appropriate Field Partners to disburse and administer. As the entrepreneurs repay their loans, the Field Partners remit funds back to Kiva. Once a loan is fully repaid, the Kiva lenders can withdraw their principal or re-loan it to another entrepreneur.

FREE - Must Watch Video - Chris Anderson

This is the trend to watch out for ...

This is a great Video where Chris is discussing about his new book.
Chris Anderson is the editor-in-chief of 'Wired' Magazine and the author of 'The Long tail'

The Wisdom of Crowds

James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations makes a good read.

The book talks about the aggregation of information in groups, resulting in decisions that, he argues, are often better than could have been made by any single member of the group.
However , Not all crowds (groups) are wise. Consider, for example, mobs or crazed investors in a stock market bubble. Etc.According to Surowiecki, these key four elements are required to form a ‘wise crowd’.

Diversity of opinion -Each person should have private information even if it's just an eccentric interpretation of the known facts.
Independence -People's opinions aren't determined by the opinions of those around them.
Decentralization -People are able to specialize and draw on local knowledge.
Aggregation –Some mechanism exists for turning private judgments into a collective decision

A must read....