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Unitus Microcredit Loans

Lessons, impressions, and thoughts that I have about the powerful poverty-fighting tool of Microcredit and how Unitus is accelerating the growth of Microfinance around the globe.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

How to make Unitus a Viral Concept


I recently read a post by Seth Godin about what makes an idea viral. He states that to make an idea viral, the idea must be sent and must be received. He makes the following points:
No one "sends" an idea unless:
a. they understand it
b. they want it to spread
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits

No one "gets" an idea unless:
a. the first impression demands further investigation
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time


One of the challenges of Unitus is how to make its message so simple that people can "get" it quickly and without a lot of education. Having more people educated about microfinance, will make it easier for the Unitus message to be told. That is why I think that things like the upcoming PBS documentary on Microcredit, called "Small Fortunes" and features, among others, our own Geoff Davis and Mike Murray, will help the cause. It will expose many more to the basics and power of microcredit in helping to alleviate poverty.

So back to the basic thought - how can we help make the ideas of Unitus become viral?

Here are some of my thoughts:

- We have to make the Unitus message very simple
- We need to make the Unitus message intriguing so it leads to further investigation
- We need to have a core of people who understand that message
- We need to make it very easy for people to share that message

How do you think we can make the ideas of Unitus viral?

1 Comments:

At 10:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tim, something that mark keller (http://entrepreneurialbasics.blogspot.com/ ) and I were discussing was how to make microcredit more fun for the investors.

We think that a real life SIM would be really fun. We'd be in for sure. Adding an element of competition where you can call your friends out, trash talk, and all in the name of building life and making the world better is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! Can you imagine Warren Buffett competing with Peter Drucker (hypothetical only because he sadly died recently) to see who could best manage a group of new entrepreneurs in a 3rd world country?

Can you imagine how viral this would become in the bloggin community?

let's talk about it because it's something I'd love to help you with if you're interested in it.

--Pete

 

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