Never underestimate a group of committed individuals….
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008One of my favorite quotes in the world is by Margaret Mead. She said, “Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have.”
Last week, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus came to help MicroPlace celebrate our first anniversary. One of the messages he really brought home is how special microfinance investors are as a community. Check out this video.
So for all you MicroPlace investors who felt like you were the only ones in the world who cared about making an investment that helps, now you know. You are not alone. There is a community, albeit small, of committed individuals who are there with you working to change the world. And indeed we are. 26,000 loans have been enabled by you to date, and we are just starting.
His entire talk can be found here but I pulled out my favorite clip from the talk and it is below. This is the part where he talk about how a microloan, although just a few dollars to you and me, is about so much more than a loan to a borrower. It is about the transformation that comes through the empowerment it provides. Enjoy. And try not to get misty eyed.
And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t show you a couple of clips from after he finished the talk and then cut the birthday cake.
Some folks who were there put up their photos and you can find them here and here. If you have any photos, feel free to post them in the comments section.
In all, we would like to thank all the investors, those who made it to our celebration party and those who could not. Without you, the investors, we would be able to accomplish nothing.
