Wednesday, January 12, 2011

My Latest Northside Column: Interviewing Kiva.org's Premal Shah

The latest issue of Northside San Francisco is out, and the editors have just posted it on their web site, too. Here's my latest column, which is an interview with Premal Shah, the president of online micro-finance site kiva.org.

Common Knowledge
Be the Bank
By John Zipperer
Would you rather destroy a bank or become one? A financial industry blogger using the pseudonym “Edmundo Braverman” has been peddling his plan to take down one of the big U.S. banks in retribution for the recent financial panic. It’s a far-fetched plan that is arguably unworkable, but it has been receiving a lot of attention, including from The New York Times and other national media.
But as alluring as Braverman’s caper might be to some angry citizens, another option exists: become a banker yourself. No, not in the sense of accepting deposits and giving away toasters. Rather, you can be the lender to small business people near and afar, even successfully lending money to people who wouldn’t qualify for a loan from the drunkest bank loan officer.

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