Robert Maranga's blog

There is story from hyderabad how MFIs are swindling poor farmers money. According to Mumbai Mirror, a few of them have been closed for exorbitan interest charges - 35% compared to 15% commercial rate.

What is like to live large? Ask a Kenyan government official and you have the full story - http://kenyanpundit.com/docs/transparency.pdf

Sounds like a small problem if you live in the developed world. What if yours is a developing country struggling from the ashes? I suppose it is not a Kenyan problem, but indeed global.

I am happy that microfinance is the buzzword in many high places. By many, it is believed to be the magical bullet that will eradicate poverty to extinction. It is aim is to avail capital in the hands of the world's poor in getting out of poverty. Will it work if somebody went around dishing money to whoever was dimmed poor?

As microfinance takes shape, the following are the principles that have been defined by CGAP and endorsed by the G8 according to the new book - Access for All: Building Inclusive Financial Systems (a world bank publication - http://www.gizmag.com/go/5112)

Coming from a country where poverty is nothing you have to search for, I have read very interesting proposals on how poverty can be brought to an end - for once and for all. 2015 for my country, Kenya. My country is certainly very rich of such proposals in it is national archives, government departments, ministries and and countless civil societies offices. I had wished they sold for money.

An interesting kind of church it is.

About 20,000 people attend Willow Creek every week, making it one of the largest churches in the nation. And like other so-called "megachurches"—defined by average weekly attendance of more than 2,000 people—technology is essential to almost every phase of its mission. There are perhaps 1,800 megachurches in the U.S., including a subset of truly gargantuan institutions whose attendance can approach 20,000, or more. And the bigger they are, the more they tend to rely on technology.

It was interesting to note how the poor can work hard against all odds.

I came across the story about an Afghan woman - Shakila - who through her influence and strong believe in work hard, influenced several others to join hands in changing their lives. This goes along to confirm the fact the poor are poor not by choice but by circumstance and, given a choice, they will do all they can to get out of it.

Some very nice article about Kenya

The author gives a true account of what its like to go across Kenya. He talks about dusty and pumpy roads, the train that has seen better days, the carnivore experience ... and '

I was suprised to read about social entrepreneuship covered in one of Kenya's leadin daily - which it defines thus:

The most commonly quoted definition of social entrepreneurship was formulated by Prof J. Gregory Dees of Stanford University in 1998. He outlines the five factors that define social entrepreneurship as adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value); recognising and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission; engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning; acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand; and exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created

As I reviewed the cellular church , I noted that is a social venture that is built on business principles. From our discussion and refernce to the article I did learn a number of lessons:

1. b-to-b model applied in the whole structure. Rick chose to be a provider of services to other pastors.