An Online Community of Microfinance Advocates All Over the Globe

Here’s my scenario:

• I travel a lot.
• I’m passionate about microfinance.
• I want to meet more passionate about microfinance, both in real life and online.
• It’s really hard to actually find those people in a specific region.

What to do?

Every destination I visit, I spend some time researching the local microfinance scene. It takes time and effort — more than it should — to track someone down in a given region. I email my microfinance contacts. Sometimes I even blog about it in the hopes that someone I know knows someone in the particular region I’m currently in. Sometimes I succeed in finding a fellow microfinance advocate. Most of the time, I’m don’t.

For example, take a look at the results for “microfinance in barcelona” on Google (I happen to be in Barcelona right now). Total crap, nothing useful in terms of organizations or people pop up on page 1.

What would be simply fantastic is an online community of microfinance advocates – tagged with their geographic location – around the globe. The community would share a common bond that serves as a basis for good conversation amongst members. Make it so that I can search for microfinance fans in any city or country and instantly be able to send them a quick email or meeting request. That would be pretty valuable in my book.

Someone, please please build this. I’ll be your first beta tester.

[Photo via socialbusinessnews.com]