German p2p lending service Smava has sent its lenders an email asking them to produce short videos telling their personal experiences using Smava. Smava offers 50 Euro (approx. 75 US$) for each user generated video that is sent to Smava and published.
Three (older) videos by Smava lenders can be viewed here.
MyC4.com will start to offer loans in Rwanda next week. This is the fourth country MyC4 is lending at, after Uganda, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire. Mads Kjaer, CEO of MyC4, is quoted that Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal and South Africa will follow. In 2009 he aims to serve borrowers in 20 countries in Africa. (Source)
In a danish television video (15 min, danish language), which was broadcastes yesterday, MyC4 is presented as a good alternative for investing and gains a recommendation of MyBanker.dk, a website comparing banks.
Prosper will run television ads (preview them online). The TV spots will be aired in test markets starting this week.
CBS recently featured Prosper and Lendingclub under the headline "Beating the financial giants at their own game".
Watch the following video explaining why a Google.org initiative has commited 10.1 million US$ to fuel the growth of small and medium sized enterprises in developing countries. With a focus on India and East Africa Google aims to:
While you cannot lend as an individual in this Google initiative, have a look at Kiva, MyC4 or Microplace which have similar aims.
13 minute video (careful the video is >300 MB, requires fast internet connection) on MyC4. MyC4 facilitates peer to peer microloans to African entrepreneurs.
The video shows the situation in Uganda and many borrowers who talk about their plans. During an audience the founder gets praise by the wife of the president of Uganda for the concept.
Highly recommended viewing.