Will you lend me £15 please?

Well to be honest, it's not for me.

It's for Ibu Nurhaeni, who runs a grocery business in Indonesia or Kodjo Agounde, an electrician in Togo.

Or it could be for any of the entrepreneurs that you'll find on Lendwithcare.org.

It's a site that Bluefrog has built for Care International and is in beta test before a launch next month.

It's like giving to charity. But it isn't. It's lending instead.

Rather than just sending a gift to a charity for their general work, Lendwithcare.org allows you to support an entrepreneur in a developing country who has a great idea for a business but needs a little help to get it off the ground or to it's next stage of development.

It's similar to Dragons Den, but you don't need to be a millionaire to get involved.

It works like this.

• You have a look through the entrepreneurs and find one with a business idea you like.
• You then choose how much you want to lend him or her.
• It doesn't matter if you can't lend the total amount they are asking for because other people just like you will make up the difference.
• The minimum amount you can lend is £15.
• Over the next few months you'll get feedback on how the business is progressing along with regular repayments on your original loan.
• When it's paid back you can simply return the money to your bank account or lend it to another entrepreneur. You'll find that your £15 can change someone life over and over again.

Now you might be thinking this sounds a little like Oikocredit, Grameen or Kiva. It is, in as far as it is built around the concept of micro-finance. But this product is built from a fundraising perspective and there are some interesting differences which you'll discover as time goes by.

But apart from helping Care International get Lendwithcare.org off the ground, the reason why I'd like you to lend £15 is so you can test the site out and let me know what you think. It's at beta stage and as someone experienced and interested in fundraising, I'd value your opinion on the site and it's usability.

And to show you how confident I am about the entrepreneurs, if anyone you lend to defaults on their loan, I'll personally guarantee to pay it back to you.

If you need any further information, this video explains all. Thanks for helping. I'll get back to the normal stuff tomorrow. Click here to get started.

Comments

[Karlwilding]

Mark
When you first told me about lendwithcare I was moved enough to 'lend' an amount (I think about £30). To be honest, I didn't think of this as a loan, more as a gift...anyway, I got an email today saying that a small amount has been repaid. This was unexpected. And it gave me what I can only describe as a warm glow - probably a bit of self-satisfaction that I'd helped someone, but mostly because I someone somewhere is 'getting on'.

I will wait till a bit more get paid back then 'reinvest' it in someone else.

Good on you Mark for making this happen.
Karl

[Sue]

Excellent idea can you email this to me and I will feature it in my next newsletter

Cheers Sue Bailey
sue@gatewayworkshops.co.uk
Jackie mendoza's partner