Wokai Blog: Asia Microfinance Conference learns from TED: Wokai China Microfinance Blog

The 11th Regional Asia Microfinance Conference held in Mongolia on May 29, 2008 finally got it right. They learned from TED and put the conference online. (For those of you unfamiliar, TED hosts innovative speakers at an annual conference in Monterey and then puts those talks online for viewers worldwide to access.)

Unfortunately the Asia Microfinance Conference had non-profit funding and not TED's BMW sponsorship. Perhaps that is the reason the video online is a bust. (At least not from what I could tell. But maybe you'll have better luck. Give it a shot.)

Regardless, the point remains the same: Asia microfinance is taking a united step in the right direction. They are using the power of the internet to overcome one of their biggest challenges: information flow. Asia microfinance, more specifically China microfinance, is disconnected from the rest of the global microfinance community. Very few people have a very good understanding for what is going on with Asia Microfinance. And very very few have a fair understanding of whats going on with China microfinance.

With the internet, the Asia microfinance community has the opportunity to bridge that information gap. With conferences that are online; websites that are dedicated to information flow (MIXmarket and Microfinance Gateway); and internet platforms that connect borrowers in one place to contributors in another (Kiva and Globe Funder); the status quo really can change. Especially, if that technology is Asia-specific and problem-specific, like we at Wokai are trying to create.