The Struggle of Micro Finance in Heavily Subsidized Economies

Micro finance loans are a technique to empower poor entrepreneurs in the developing world to create wealth for themselves and their family.  This technique uses small loans to allow them to invest in their businesses enough to overcome inherent gaps in the indigenous infrastructure.  Oftentimes, however, developed countries create cost subsidies for the very products that these entrepreneurs are attempting to sell.  This creates a competitive market system in which the poor are pitted against the developed world.  This decidedly lopsided environ destroys the entrepreneur's business and his hopes for future independent sustainability.
An example of this is our recent attempt to start a chicken farm in Haiti to provide much needed protein and jobs to the people.  After an initial success, we found our model struggling because the developed world was underwriting the cost of eggs sold in the Haitian markets.  In fact, it was cheaper for the Haitians to buy American eggs than it was for them to buy chicken feed.  While the developed world governments certainly have good intentions, the end results curb micro enterprise.
How can we create sustainable growth in developing world markets in the face of such daunting competition?www.mmdr.org

9/11 Tribute

Today is September 11.  For those of us old enough to remember, it will by a date never forgotten.  For the young, it has become an unquestioned way of life. This was the day that we became vulnerable or at least realized our vulnerabilities.  This was the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor and for me it represented a special loss.  Not only did we lose our innocence, but we lost our cousin.  On board American Airlines flight 77 bound for Los Angeles, Bryan Jack, an analyst at the Pentagon, was heading for an assignment for his work in the clandestine world in which he lived.  Middle aged and newly married, I'm sure that he didn't expect to become an early casualty in the war on terror.   But he did.  As the Boeing 757 careened towards the Pentagon, there is no way to know what went through the minds of the 58 passengers, 4 flight attendants and 2 pilots that day.  But certainly, in the minds of the terrorists, they were destroying America.  Thankfully, they did not.  Though many mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, wives and husbands, children and cousins were destroyed, the United States was not, the Pentagon was not, we were not.  As we contemplate our losses today, whether personal or not, let's thank God for the strength He gives us to carry on.

Social Entrepreneurism: World Poverty

Social Entrepreneurism: World Poverty: As social entrepreneurs, we are concerned with using our business skill sets to address inequities in the world. One example of a great pro...

World Poverty

As social entrepreneurs, we are concerned with using our business skill sets to address inequities in the world.  One example of a great problem in the world is poverty related hunger.  Consider the following statistics: 850 million children went to bed hungry last night, a child dies every 5 seconds from hunger related complications and the population of the United States throws away more food in a year than the entire continent of Africa consumes.  How can we impact these numbers?www.mmdr.org

Social Enterprise

We started a for profit business, LAVE MD, in 2003 to provide funding for Mobile Medical Disaster Relief (MMDR), our non profit corporation.  MMDR provides medical care, clean water programs, sustainable agricultural models and micro enterprise initiatives to people in developing countries which have sustained infrastructure damage due to natural or man made disaster.  Since 2005, we have provided 20,000 people with medical care which was otherwise unavailable, sustainable clean water and sustainable micro enterprise initiatives to alleviate suffering in the developing world.