I've just been over to see Tim Vang at MyC4.
He's a really charismatic guy who I met at a seminar on CSR inspired innovation a week or two ago. He had a whole lot of interesting and inspiring stuff to tell me about their organisation.
We had a long and interesting chat.
At The Aid Agency we talk to businesses a lot about having a purpose beyond profit. A 'point' if you like. MyC4 is the perfect example of this. They're driven people. They know were they are going and they know why they are going there.
Anyway, more about MyC4 the brand another time. Hopefully we're going to do something together. (are you kidding, I'm going to make it my personal mission to work with these guys)
This post is actually a call to action.
Their aim is to eradicate poverty through business before 2015 and they're going to do that with you investing your money in developing world businesses. Significantly, they're not asking you for a 'free' loan. In fact, you can't 'donate' a loan. There's a minimum return rate of 2%, which has sparked a lively debate within the MyC4 community.
Another exciting aspect to this is the possibilities which arise when the community start to discuss stuff that crops up. Tim told me really inspiring story about a restaurant business. The owner appealed to the community for suggestions for names. What she got back wasn't just the name but logo suggestions and all kinds of related feedback. I find this fascinating. The potential for the investment of resources in this manner seems limitless.
Anyway, back to the job in hand. I urge you to take a look around. (it's still in beta right now) and maybe you could become a 'builder' too.
To paraphrase Sir Bob at Live Aid. 'Give them your f******g money' or maybe that should be 'Give yourself some f******g money (whilst doing some good)' Doesn't have the same headline-grabbing ring to it but it makes more sense.
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