Changing the world through technology

During yesterday mornings keynote at IDF, Craig Barrett didn’t just do the normal IDF demo with new and exciting technology. Instead, Barrett encouraged industry leaders to use their skills for the good of the human race. This keynote reminds us that technology is a powerful tool and it’s becoming more and more important in our everyday lives. Technology has the ability to (if it hasn’t already) change the way we look at education, work, transportation, health and of course communication. During his speech, Barrett introduced us to special guest Matt Flannery who’s already begun changing the world one online loan at a time.

Flannery is a seemingly normal computer programmer type who with his wife, started something extraordinary in Kiva.org. I caught up with Matt after the keynote to learn more about how Kiva got started and more details on the program:

Kiva’s mission is to alleviate poverty by empowering individuals to loan money directly to budding entrepreneurs in developing countries. I equate the concept to Muhammad Yuns’ Nobel Peace prize winning Grameen Bank concept (yes mom and dad, I did learn something in college!).

I explored the site for a few hours last nighta and was pleasentaly surprised at the “social networking” feel. You can check out the profiles of each person/buisness on Kiva and choose who you lend to. You also create a public profile for yourself that keeps track of how much you’ve loaned and to who. The whole experience is very interactive and rewarding.

Learn how you can change a life @ kiva.org.