I have been thinking about this idea for about 8 months now, and I am working on developing it into a business model. At the risk of having someone steal it-I thought I would share this with you all at Nature Network with the hope of finding an appropriate journal to publish a formal article I have written on this. I also would love to hear your thoughts about this idea.
So Bill Clinton (and others before him) has been touting the idea of microfinance in third world countries to improve the standard of living by bolstering businesses that would not be considered profitable by banks. In essence, since banks will not give loans, these businesses can get financial services from local donors. One version of microfinance is the donation of small sums of money (5 USD or less) by random anonymous donors over the internet. Kiva does this sort of thing.
This got me thinking, can we bolster local investment and interest in local science through the use of microfinance?
For example, let’s say you live in Buffalo, NY and you just had an Aunt develop Alzheimer’s. You may begin by searching the ’net and finding all kinds of organizations where you could “donate” your money “for research.”
Most people realize that with large organizations less and less of that money actually gets directly to the labs where it is needed after it is swept away by administrative overhead. Furthermore, these organizations are far way and usually disconnected from the communities where the research is done. On top of this, most people don’t really know what “research” is even being done.
What if you could find a researcher in Buffalo, NY that is doing Alzheimer’s research and you could make a small donation directly to that researcher to be used to cover overhead for that lab? Then you would be directly investing in the researcher and would probably be interested in the local “research scene” in Buffalo. This in an oversimplified nutshell-would be the essence of microfinance of local research and development.
Granted, such grassroots support of research makes a minimal input economically (albeit it will have some impact-people could choose to donate whatever amount they want from 5 bucks to 10,000). The larger input would be socio-economically, with local communities supporting the researchers in their area, thus becoming a local political force for the advancement of research and development in thier city of town. In turn, researchers would be more apt to explain to the public the implications and progress of the research they are doing in order to get more microfinance funding.
Let me emphasize that this is not meant to take the place of the grant system in this country or charitable organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association, which does great lobbying work. It is meant to supplement small overhead costs for local researchers in the local economy and produce more public interest and investment in research.
Thoughts?
Is there even a journal where I could publish the more formal version of this?
I do not think that this is a bad idea. But I guess some locally rooted charities do exist already. For example a local cancer research center may accept donations intended for it’s research.
If an “independent” lab of, let’s say, the faculty of biochemistry of a local university is working on Alzheimer as well it will be hard to get enough public attention to attract substantial amounts of money by microfinance. I guess this would only help big labs with good PR to get even bigger.
If your paper is nicely written PLoS One will probably take it. You’ll have to pay $1300 though… (ouch)!
PLoS one is pretty expensive, and judging from the comments, this idea might not be as popular as I thought.
The PR part as you rightly bring up is a definite problem with this method-however, as you can read in my last post-I think a little science PR can’t hurt! I will do a further post on PR…
Hey Michael. I work with a bimonthly magazine on microfinance called Microfinance Insights. Pl see www.microfinanceinsights.com. If you wish to send ur article (if it has not been published elsewhere), we can discuss how to take it fwd. pl email me at vibha.mehta@mfinsights.com/vibhamht@gmail.com if this is of interest to you
other than that we are organizing an event in Kenya. pl attend it if you happen to be in that area/recommend it to people you know.
Microfinance in Africa: What Works?
The Future of Entrepreneurship, Technology & Regulation
Intellecap is hosting an event to celebrate the launch of the newest issue of our magazine, Microfinance Insights, focused on microfinance in Africa. A panel of diverse leaders from the microfinance space will come together, including players from commercial microfinance, the investing side, the regulatory side, and technology, to have a significant discussion on the future of entrepreneurship, technology and regulation. There will be a lunch networking session after the panel discussion. Please download your complete event invitation
Confirmed Speakers Include:
Kamal Budhabhatti, CEO, Craft Silicon
Wagane Diouf, CEO, AfriCap
Ingrid Munro, Founder, Jamii Bora
Dave van Niekerk, CEO, Blue Financial
Vineet Rai, Managing Partner, Aavishkaar Goodwell Microfinance Development Co. [Moderator]
Thursday, November 20, 2008
12pm – 4pm
Serena Hotel
Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya
Seats are limited. Please RSVP: jerilene@mfinsights.com; +91 22 4035 9210
Hey Michael,
I came across this article while trying to find individuals who might be interested in working with us to further develop our own business model.
We have, at The Open Sources Science Project, attempted to apply the microfinance model to scientific research. If you are interested in, potentially, working with us in this endeavor, contact me at your earliest convenience (pweerappuli@hotmail.com).
The homepage for our project is:
http://www.theopensourcescienceproject.com
The homepage for the microfinance portion is:
http://www.thehumanbrainprojectmf.com
Priyan