Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Great presentation on power of microfinance (gotta love Toastmasters!)
My friend, Gopi, shared this video of his Toastmasters presentation entitled "Ordinary People" -- it talks about how Gopi discovered microfinance through Kiva, and is a really effective presentation on the ways you can help to alleviate poverty around the world, right from your computer.
Gopi was at Wharton in the year ahead of me, and was a Toastmaster way back then -- he's taken it to all new heights, though, as he's one of 25 finalists in the national Toastmaster speaker competition -- go Gopi! (And, for those of you looking to become better public speakers, take a public speaking class!)
One final plug -- if you're energized by the microfinance story, and are passionate about education, I invite you to learn more about a new startup that I'm involved with called Vittana -- they're workign to enable education microfinance lending in developing countries.
Gopi was at Wharton in the year ahead of me, and was a Toastmaster way back then -- he's taken it to all new heights, though, as he's one of 25 finalists in the national Toastmaster speaker competition -- go Gopi! (And, for those of you looking to become better public speakers, take a public speaking class!)
One final plug -- if you're energized by the microfinance story, and are passionate about education, I invite you to learn more about a new startup that I'm involved with called Vittana -- they're workign to enable education microfinance lending in developing countries.
Labels: microfinance, microlending, microloan, public speaking, toastmasters
Monday, July 14, 2008
Unitus employee sings on stage with Sting!
I've posted frequently about Unitus (if you're passionate about solving a great world problem, poverty, I highly recommend that you get involved with Unitus).
This summer, The Police are promoting Unitus during their summer tour; as part of that, the whole team came up on stage during sound check, and they then invited a Unitus employee, Jessica Ketola, to come and sign with Sting -- amazing!
This summer, The Police are promoting Unitus during their summer tour; as part of that, the whole team came up on stage during sound check, and they then invited a Unitus employee, Jessica Ketola, to come and sign with Sting -- amazing!
Labels: gorge, microfinance, police, poverty, seattle, sting, the police, unitus
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Fight Poverty by Honoring an Empowering Woman in your life
I remained involved with a fantastic organization called Unitus - they work to alleviate poverty by using a venture capital model to increase access to microfinance.
As part of their efforts to increase awareness of microfinance and their innovative approach to alleviating poverty, on Monday they're launching a really creative campaign called "Empowering Women".
The idea is to encourage you to honor an 'Empowering Woman' in your life (maybe your Mother... good time, since Mother's Day is rapidly approaching :-) ) with a contribution that will help Empower Women who are lifting themselves out of poverty.
I encourage you to get involved -- it only takes a few minutes. Please consider a donation (any amount helps... even $5!). In addition, your emails, blog posts and video blogs are all incredibly beneficial.
Here are tributes to my mother and wife.
We're trying to spread the word -- one of our first posts was from Seth Godin -- that means a great deal to us, especially given the great work he does with Acumen Fund and other organizations -- thank you, Seth!
Some other great posts that have appeared from friends:
* Chris Pirillo, for Ponzi
* Jeff Barr, for his amazing wife Carmen
* Devin Thorpe, for the lovely Miss Thorpe
* Tim Stay, amazing person and Unitus Board member
Labels: acumen fund, empower, empowering woman, empowering women, microfinance, mothers day, poverty, woman, women
