Week in Review: An invitation and unlikely inspiration

Do you have plans tomorrow? If you're in the Philadelphia area you can register and attend (for free!) the University of Pennsylvania's 6th Annual Microfinance Conference. The conference will focus on "reevaluating microfinance in a way that will allow for steady growth while assuaging controversies," and will feature Alex Counts, president and CEO of the Grameen Foundation, and William Abrams, president of anti-poverty nonprofit Trickle Up. Too far from Philadelphia to participate live? Follow the agenda with us on Twitter at #PennMFC.

On a different note, our Social Performance in Action blog post on the different faces of empowerment got me thinking about finding things in unexpected places. Here at Kiva, we are always looking for new ways to do things, which means pursuing unprecedented partnerships, or implementing original programs (like Kiva Zip). I love the feeling of surprise when reality doesn't match expectations-- it can be as big as something like mobile payments in rural developing countries or as simple as a vacant store front in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has become filled with post-it notes of gratitude.


Have you ever found inspiration in an expected place? Tell us about it blog@kiva.org.