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Yes. I believe there is.  More importantly, Geoff Davis of Unitus thinks there is.  Even more importantly than that, the numbers back it up.  Currently, only 20% of the people that could benefit from microfinance are being met with loans.  It is a rapidly growing industry with a $50 billion dollar a year industry.  3 billion people in the world live on less than $2 per day.  Microfinance is a business opportunity with the potential to make significant social change.  I highly recommend this lecture given at Stanford on microfinance (ecorner has loads of amazing lectures).  Think about the potential opportunities in this area.  Stay tuned to 273 because we will be implementing some new strategies to try and get more loans funded.

This is one of the most moving TED talks I have watched so far (and I have watched a lot!).  If you have a cause you want to promote, or a business you should be passionate about it, if not why would anyone else be?  I remember studying environmental justice when I was at the University of Alabama, it was a really interesting class, but I think this speech really shows the principles in action.  I hope you enjoy Majora Carter’s presentation ‘Greening the Ghetto’, I’ll leave you with my favourite advice from the talk:

‘It’s better to ask for foregiveness than permission’

Hey 273sters, here’s another great freebie from Mixergy.com, I’m addicted to this site.  It is an interview with Tom Szaky, founder of Terracycle a company that takes garbage and turns it into products.  He got the idea for starting the company when he started selling worm poop which he’d been using to help grow pot in his basement during college.  I really like the way he talks about creating a profitable marketing department, and putting a lot of effort into communicating with journalists.  Free publicity is the best publicity.

I am going to try and start posting freebies like this on a regular basis.

Happy Earth Day everyone, here are 10 great documentaries that you can watch for free.  Enjoy.