Forgive me for having such an accusatory tone in my title, but it is tough for me to not have a violent reaction to Kiva, the poster child for microlending. I mean it was featured on Oprah so it must be a big deal. So what has Kiva actually been able to do? Has it been successful at poverty alleviation by financing microloans to poor borrowers at interest rates sometimes exceeding 100%?

Let us consider a simple thought experiment, imagine you were planning to open a small business, and you needed to finance the start-up costs of that business. So you went to your local financial institution and provided them with all the necessary documents for the loan. The loan officer reviewed your documents and after careful consideration approved you for your loan. However, he informed you that the loan would be at an interest rate of 109%. Do you actually believe that your business could succeed with such a massive debt burden on any potential future profits of your business? Would you accept the loan as a rational person, with a smidgen of business acumen?

Of course not, so why do we accept these conditions for the poor and their business ventures? Kiva is nothing more than a loanshark posing as a nonprofit social institution that seeks to alleviate poverty by indebting the already marginalized.

How is Kiva so successful at what it does? Does it work? Who cares? This is the genius of Kiva – it doesn’t need to work. It feeds an “ideology of entrepreneurial charity,” as marketing researcher Domen Bajde puts it, and ideologies don’t need proof. It is an illusion, a façade and the public face of a broader agenda – the financialization of the poor.

Don’t get me wrong microlending is a power financial tool that growing economies need access to. However, they must be regulated so they operate with the same rules we do in more privileged nations. Furthermore, it is our duty to be whistleblowers to such injustices and inequalities to the norms of fair and equitable business practices. We who have the burden of knowledge also have an obligation to act. We must not only be generous with our wealth but also generous with our protection and justice.

I had the opportunity to read an article highlighting the most innovative companies in the food and agricultural industry.  Fast Company, a leading business magazine. In their annual Most Innovative Companies issue, Fast Company recognizes firms that are radically remaking an industry, changing consumer habits, and challenging economic assumptions.  Several of the enterprises in the article are ones I follow very closely. The emergence of socially minded entrepreneurial businesses with the aim of improving or reinventing our food system has gained popularity and interest with the investment community. Green business has come to the mainstream, the opportunity for the inherent problems of the world food system, to find solutions through the power of business, seems to have great promise.

Several of the companies mentioned have had great success, I have a personal preference for Chipotle new branding and image change. They are taking several of the big food concerns and introducing them in their very avant-garde ads.
My favorite one to date is their scarecrow ad campaign.

These companies are creating the new earth, they are trailblazing solutions, instead of feeding us the same old unhealthy unethical foods and telling us how bad things are.

Read more about the other companies mentioned.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3026682/most-innovative-companies-2014/the-worlds-top-10-most-innovative-companies-in-food