Comments on microfranchising: Popular countries for operations

Thanks Leslie- that was extremely informative. It...

2008-10-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks Leslie- that was extremely informative. It is interesting to hear the particular challenges working within China. I'll pick up the conversation offline.

Hi David,These are excellent questions! We at Wok...

2008-10-20T01:34:00.000-07:00

Hi David,

These are excellent questions! We at Wokai know both Kiva and Unitus well, and we have worked closely with leaders from both of these organizations. China's microfinance environment and monetary policy have led Wokai to build a China-specific platform.

1) China's microfinance sector began 15 years later than other countries', and remains underdeveloped. Through information and capital exchange, Wokai aims to grow the microfinance sector in China and correspondingly increase opportunities for the poor. You write in your article about Kiva that you'd like to see them "use their platform to strategically inspire change in the market." This is something that we are trying to do in China. By our third year of operation, we hope to expand to at least fifteen MFIs in China, over 20% of China’s non-government microfinance sector.

2) China's monetary policy does not allow Chinese currency (RMB) to be converted into other currencies. Therefore, Kiva's model of repaying lenders once borrowers repay their loans would not work in this environment. Wokai will serve as an online recycler of microfinance loans: each contribution gets used multiple times to help more than one person. Once the borrower repays the loan, the contributor will be able to select another entrepreneur from the same Field Partner and receive updates on that entrepreneur's progress.

Our website (which is launching soon!) will be like Kiva meets Facebook meets Wikipedia. The “Kiva” is a person-to-person contribution platform that allows donors from all over the world to go online, view borrower profiles, and make small contributions to support the loan of the borrower of their choice. The “Facebook” is a social networking platform that will connect everyone from MFIs on the ground in rural China to investors, capacity builders (like Unitus), and contributors around the world. The "Wikipedia" is a user generated information resource. Our site will host microfinance authorities that blog about the latest news in China microfinance, as well as enable users from around the world to upload articles, videos, pictures, and podcasts related to China microfinance.

We also work very closely with our Field Partners to train them in international-standard accounting and management systems. We are currently working with two field partners, in Inner Mongolia and Sichuan.

Also, I have a tiny correction to your blog article about Kiva. Kiva Friends was started by Kiva lenders, not staff members. This is an incredible example of "crowdsourcing against constraints" that Premal Shah from Kiva described in his presentation at the recent Online Giving Marketplaces conference at Stanford. Here's the link to the slides from that awesome presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/mrpremal/online-giving-marketplaces-kiva-presentation-presentation

Thanks again for your enthusiastic support of the world's nascent microfranchising industry. Feel free to contact me at leslie.forman (at) wokai.org if you'd rather keep this discussion going over email.

All the best,
Leslie

I'll look forward to it.

2008-10-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'll look forward to it.

I anticipate I'll do a single post after I'm done ...

2008-10-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

I anticipate I'll do a single post after I'm done at the conference.

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend this year....

2008-10-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend this year. I'm out in Washington D.C. area these days. The director of the CESR was just out here in D.C. so I did get my update of happenings but I would love to be there for the networking. Are you going to blog from the event?

Thanks for the shout out and additional perspectiv...

2008-10-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the shout out and additional perspective. Will you be attending the BYU CESR event in early November? I just signed up.

Hi Leslie, thanks for coming by and lending your e...

2008-10-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hi Leslie, thanks for coming by and lending your expertise. I spent some time exploring the links you provided and I would actually be most curious to hear your thoughts about my post last week on Kiva, particularly in light of the question-what will you be offering that is unique from Kiva, the China focus? why not partner with someone like Kiva or Unitus as an implementation partner?

http://microfranchising.blogspot.com/2008/09/kiva-should-co-brand-with.html

Excellent post! I think that China is both surgin...

2008-10-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Excellent post! I think that China is both surging and lagging in terms of social capitalism. I used to work for the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility, and this is a hot topic among companies, government agencies, non-profits, students, and others. Lots of foreign companies and expatriate entrepreneurs have made huge strides in this field, and China's state-owned enterprises have made it a high priority. However, it is also lagging, due to a lack of government recognition for the non-profit sector. China's development has been very top-down, focusing on big cities. I believe that social capitalism is much stronger in urban China than in rural China. My organization, Wokai.org, is working to promote microfinance in China. I recommend the following websites to learn more about these topics in China:
http://www.responsiblechina.com
http://www.china-crossroads.com
http://www.chinacsr.com
http://www.shokay.com
http://www.wokai.org