Help Small Entrepreneurs Grow Tall

Unitus: Helping Small Entrepreneurs Grow Tall

Make a contribution to microfinance lending, and make a BIG difference.

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Tiny.  Micro.  Really, really small... you know, the kind of entrepreneur that makes even Randy Newman or David Hornik feel tall.  Who am I talking about?

Microfinance entrepreneurs of course. The working poor all over the world who live on $1-2 a day. Pound for pound, rupee for rupee, they're the world's tiniest yet most powerful entrepreneurs. But they're not in Silicon Valley; the hotbeds of microfinance are in India, Latin and South America, and Africa.

These folks need your support -- to be more specific: they need your money.

Unitus, a nonprofit based in Seattle and India. Unitus is doing some incredibly innovative work applying venture capital concepts in the field of microfinance. Please take a few minutes to learn why i'm so passionate and motivated about Unitus. Their approach WORKS, and the results show it.

Please give to Unitus NOW. Your money will be used to make microloans to poor, hardworking entrepreneurs around the world. Even if you can only give a small amount, please do it now... I guarantee it will make you feel 10 feet tall.

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READ about Unitus: The Microfinance VC

Here's how Unitus applies a venture capital approach to microfinance. Like a VC choosing a startup investment, Unitus reviews hundreds of microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world, and selects only those with the greatest potential. Next they invest ~$1-3M in these MFIs via grants, equity, and debt to help them grow. MFIs in turn lend money to thousands of working poor to invest in family businesses. In a few years, MFIs can reach self-sustaining levels of operation and capital, after which no outside funding is needed.

As of December 2005, Unitus works with 7 MFI partners and serves over 500,000 microentrepreneurs and their families in 3 countries around the world. By the end of 2009, Unitus intends to grow their reach to over 3 million working poor.  Help reach this goal by contributing to Unitus.

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WATCH and LISTEN to the Unitus Story

Watch this video clip about Unitus to learn how microfinance is steadily eliminating global poverty. Hear about SKS, a Unitus MFI partner in India that in 3 years has grown from lending to 10,000 people to now more than 150,000 people. Hear personal testimonials from folks such as Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, Stewart Alsop of NEA, a leading Silicon Valley VC, and Unitus Chair & co-founder Mike Murray, a former exec at Microsoft and Apple.

You can also listen to a recent podcast on Unitus and Microfinance by Eric Olson of VentureWeek interviewing David Schappell, VP Communications at Unitus along with yours truly, DMC.

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TINY Entrepreneurs?  Not Really... Just BIG Hearts.

Lastly, although the innovative approach and numbers above tell an amazing tale, the real story is told by the people touched by Unitus and Unitus MFI partners. People like Govindammal pictured here at left; with just two small loans of $67 and $89 her life changed dramatically... and permanently. Access to microfinance allowed her to expand her bamboo-weaving business, transform her life, and give her two children a brighter future. And there are many, many more wonderful Unitus success stories like Govindammal's to appreciate.

But millions more like her still don’t have access to microfinance lending. Unitus is changing that story, but we need your help to get there.

Give to Unitus now, and make a difference that will last a lifetime.

(ps - please do your best to give BIG, not tiny ;)

Comments

[Sumitra Menon]

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur & Strategy Consultant Sramana Mitra, in her series on microfranchising, presents her analysis of Economic Development. Link: http://sramanamitra.com/articles/fortune-at-the-bottom-of-the-pyramid