Blogging is where we discourse, where we wonder aloud, freedom or pain, enabled or crippled, brilliant or moronic. Please join us in the dialog.
NOTE: Posted below you will see our blogging articles. Please click on the title of the article to navigate to the full article if you would like to comment.
KIVA - Giving Small, Giving That Matters!
Last modified on 2009-04-09 17:15:14 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Some time ago, I was introduced to Kiva (www.kiva.org), a web based micro loan service. According to their website “Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.” For as little as $25.00 you can help individual or groups of entrepreneurs from third world countries grow their small businesses and become self sufficient. “Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.”
Also know as compassionate capitalism, Kiva directly affects the lives of thousands of people who otherwise would not have the means to take care of themselves and their families. Local “micro-finance partners” administer the loans. Entrepreneurs apply through their local micro-finance partner by submitting their information and financial needs. Often the loan requests are fulfilled by grouping the donations of several people together. The borrower commits to a repayment schedule. When the money is paid back you are free to re-invest with another person or group. No interest is paid on the loan. This is not a profit making enterprise, but it does feel good when you realize that your donation has helped some one out of their poverty cycle.
My first loan ($25.00 of $600.00 requested) was made to a man in Khujand, Tajikistan. Hakim Umarov has been selling nuts, garlic, potatoes, turnips and fruit vinegar (circo) for 28 years. He has been a MicroInvest borrower since 2002 and has shown himself to be a responsible borrower. Hakim learned about MicroInvest from a loan officer. Due to the loan he was able to increase his purchases from wholesalers and increase his profits. Sometimes he travels to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to purchase products. Hakim is a family man and has 3 children. His son helps him in his business. In the future he plans to pass on his business to his son. Hakim will use his Kiva loan to expand his inventory and support his fast product turnover.
This loan was paid back on time and in full as promised. From what I gather, 100% of the loans are repaid.
This began when my son-in-law gave me a gift of $25.00 in “Kiva Credit.” Since then I’ve affected the lives of about a dozen people. Since then I’ve added to my loan pool and will continue to do so. Even small donations can make a huge difference because in Kiva, your donations are combined with others either by Kiva or through “giving groups” some of which have pools as large as $250,000.00 to lend.
It’s a small way of giving, but it certainly matters to the borrower in ways that I can’t imagine. This is a “pay it forward” thing. Go to the Kiva website to learn more. Join and give or give someone a gift. It will make you feel better about yourself and the world.
OMBNexGen’s National Day Of Service Offer
Last modified on 2009-02-15 18:15:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
On Friday, January 16th, we contacted 1200 organizations with an invitation to participate in our contribution to Barak Obama’s call to action by honoring Martin Luther King on MLK Day through a National Day of Service.
Barak Obama asked all American’s to celebrate his innauguration and the “Spirit of Change” by volunteering on MLK day. We at OMBNexGen, irrespective of any political affiliations, were impressed with his request and decided that we would participate with our own idea to honor the spirt of change: We have offered to contribute our professional expertise and time to solve business problems and we will do so by volunteering our time for free.
With that idea in mind we contacted 1200 organizations and asked them to submit a problem that they would like OMBNexGen to help them resolve. Our invitation was very well received with a large number of the invitees reading our email invitation. In addition we got quite a number of responses with some interesting as well as challenging problems.
We contacted all of the responder’s who submitted a problem and we have even started a problem resolution project for the software development company, Outformations. Based upon preliminary conversations with the responders, it looks like we will be undertaking at least three other additional free consulting projects.
Because we have had such an incredibly favorable reaction to our offer, we are actually going to extend the offering for another couple of weeks and we will be sending an additional email invitation to an additional group of organizations. When you get that email, and if you are not one of the lucky organizations we had in our email list - please contact us as we want to extend the same offer to you - please take the time to think through our offer as well as let us know about a problem you need solved. We want to hear about the problem and we want to bring our focus and professional skills to that problem to help you resolve it.
Change is good and given the current economic circumstances as well as challenges, OMBNexGen believes that not only is the change of doing everything on the Internet a good idea but that getting professional services for free or for a price that you are willing to pay based upon your sense of what we do is worth, represents the kind of change that will be the future.
Please call or email us with your problem and lets engage in changing your problem to a solution!
When You Have The Thought…
Last modified on 2009-02-15 18:18:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
This post is remarkable in that I’m setting in a coffee shop thinking about posting to our blog. The fact that I’m thinking is hardly remarkable. But, the fact that this is being written from my iPhone is. Further remarkable is the fact that I didn’t even have the software that I’m using to write this until I had the thought to write. I went to the iPhone App store, downloaded a free blog writer and did this.
It’s truly remarkable that I can have a thought, desire to share it and with hardly a moment passing… Here it is!
Cutting Edge?
Last modified on 2009-01-29 22:00:16 GMT. 1 comment. Top.
This morning my wife offered her constructive critique of the newly re-designed website. In the course of our conversation she said,”I am just not sure that there are enough organizations that are cutting edge enough to move their IT to the web.” As a point of clarification, my wife is in the IT profession and has been for 20 years. She currently is the network manager of a large mortgage brokerage company. (In other words, she is ideally qualified to have an opinion!)
Clearly that is the crux of the “challenge” we at OMBNexGen will be facing in our endeavors to help organizations move their businesses to the web. After a bit of verbal fencing our discussion settled on the mutual perspective that if OMBNexGen can overcome the psychological barriers of change, the “ideal place to move IT infrastructure would be to the web.”
In my humble opinion I don’t think moving one’s business to the Internet is that much of a cutting edge venture. Today most of us already do a substantial portion of our business on the Internet: We do our home banking, our medical insurance and doctors scheduling, we pay our utility bills, mortgage and telephone bills on the Internet. Face it, unless you happen to live in a third-world country, most of our personal business lives are done on the Internet.
Just reflect a bit on the current pervasive nature of how much day to day business is done on the Internet and I believe it becomes easier to appreciate that moving one’s business to the Internet is not a “cutting edge” kind of decision at all. In fact it may more appropriately be called CATCHING UP!
Into The Breach
Last modified on 2008-12-05 20:05:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Fledgling best describes the initial flights of OMBNexGen’s various web site iterations. Today, however, Ken and I made our best concerted effort to drive the stake into the ground and bring the fledgling insanity to an end. We have turned on and turned off Joomla and WordPress in the past several months far too many times to count.
Let it be “officially” written that on December 3, 2008 we poured web concrete and our story pole construction is over: This is the site we we will officially launch our 2009 business season with. It is big in options, e.g., automatic Newsletter Management, subscriber paid services, and a host of other demanding technical hoo-hah, but by design and intent simple in presentation.
So it has s been said, and so it is being written, so let it be web-site law and once again, we are into the breach!
Enjoy!
