While share prices have been falling and banks have been offering measly interest rates, MYC4 investors have been able to make positive returns from African investments. Too good to be true?

As a hybrid between Grameen Bank and eBay, MYC4 sources loans for unfundable entrepreneurs in Africa. Using the Internet as leverage, MYC4 brings people together in business deals at the best market price. 

MYC4 firmly believes that the key to ending poverty does not come from increased development aid, but from risk capital and investments. Only by raising fair priced capital for small businesses will we see sustainable prosperity in Africa. The microfinance model has shown that given the opportunity, the poor are capable of transforming their own lives themselves.

It is free to invest via MYC4 and you, as an individual, company or institutional investor, can start with as little as €5. The MYC4 marketplace is based on a Dutch auction, which basically means that the more investors interested in investing in a given business, the more favorable the terms the African entrepreneur will get. It also means that you as an investor can ask for an interest rate between 0 and 25 percent, but that the higher interest you ask for, the more likely it is that you will be “thrown off” the auction (you can always come back with a lower bid).

Some would argue that this kind of Crowd Sourcing model would be beneficiary for driving development and entrepreneurship in our own back yard…… hmmm, let’s see what the future brings!!

I’ll be part of the panel about Social Banking at the CSN Conference – if you are around I will be looking forward to meeting you there!