Organizations like Kiva and HOPE International are at the forefront of a unique and relatively recent model for charitable giving. Traditionally, money given to benefit the poor in other countries around the world meant paying for charity organizations to work in communities to provide food, clean water and other forms of relief. The problem here is that the donation only goes so far.

There is an old saying that goes something like, “You can either give a man a fish and feed for a day, or teach him to fish and feed him for the rest of his life.” What this means is that while giving is a good thing, it isn’t sustainable. Micro financing fits better into the second half of this saying. The basic concept is that small donations are compiled into relatively small loans, usually ranging from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand. This money is given to entrepreneurs in poor countries to help them start a self-planned business. Examples are the cost of a bicycle so that they can deliver groceries or the start-up costs of a small street vendor. With a very high payback rate (both Kiva and HOPE claim 98-99% rates), donors know that they are giving to a worthwhile cause, and can even reinvest the money after it has been paid off!

Visit these two great organizations’ sites to help out your fellow entrepreneurs around the world:

www.hopeinternational.org

www.kiva.org

Facebook has grown tremendously since its creation, but they are not the only social network to be thriving.  Facebook only should the world the power of social networks and there potential.  Just like the internet has many unfilled niches people are starting to think that facebook cannot fill the need for social networks.  There are new nichified social networks being created all the time.  These social networks feel there is an entrepreneurial potential for these markets and that they can make money and exist even with facebook. In 2010 a new social network called Audimated was launched and it is a social network that focuses on that coffeehouse feel and for musicians.  It has been doing well and is a place were people can promote independent music and find good music.  Will this social network squash facebook?  Absolutely not, but it shows an important point that there niches left in the market that can be exploited.  It is the entrepreneur’s job to find them and fill them.  You may not be able to be better than facebook, but you can be different then facebook and being that the web is for the world you can find enough people that will like those differences.

.co has just recently been released as a new website ending, as if there weren’t enough already out there.  The question is what is this new domain and how is it different from .com.  Due to the rising traffic online a lot of .com names have been taken so people are constantly looking for new endings so that SEO rich phrases can be used for their website.  Different endings have also been used make dictions as to what type of site the user would be entering.  For example, .gov websites are only aloud to be federal government agencies, and .orgs are supposed to be for non-profits companies.  .net was created to be for technology and network companies, but as become a viable substation for a website when .com is taken.  So the question is what is .co? and what does that mean for it’s future and place in the market?

.co used to be the international ending for Columbia but the Columbian government in a effort make money decided that it would allow non-Columbia companies to register for .co and it moved all of its national websites to .com.co.  These meant that domains like ford.co, e.co, and apple.co were up for grabs.  E.co was reportedly sold for 81,000 dollars.  It is still uncertain if .co will become popular or how Google will treat .co websites verses .com for SEO purposes, but it is sure causing a lot of noise in the website community.  Domain distributers are really advertising about how successful these new .co are going to be.  Research firms have also surveyed consumers about .co and found that they mostly associate .co with either a corporation or a company.  .co could be a huge success or a big flop.  There have already been over 600,000 .co domains bought and there millions of great domains left. This could be a great opportunity for entrepreneurs.  Time will tell how successful .co will be.

For other Blogs written by Ford Jordan check out www.fordjordan.com

I watched The Social Network this weekend, and was pleasantly surprised: I really enjoyed the movie.  Among a throng of other messages, the movie inspires one to get off of the couch (which is ironically where we are receiving this inspiration) and into the drawing room.  Mark Zuckerberg does not get broken up with then go back to his dorm and check Facebook.  He goes back to his dorm and makes Facebook (technically Facemash, Facebook came later. You get the idea).

Mark is an incredible programmer and a brilliant individual and takes advantage of his gifts on the internet.  He sees a potential market and develops the perfect product.  What are you good at?  What needs do you see that you and your website can fulfill?  Don’t sit on the couch and admire Sean Parker and Mark Zuckerberg; use your talents through your business, or you’ll be left speechless when a skeptical girl asks what what your latest “preneur” was.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled on January 25th that major providers of internet infrastructure could charge users and internet service providers usage-based fees for using their services. This immediately prompted companies like Bell Canada (by far Canada’s largest telecommunications provider) to implement per-gigabyte fees on data for Canadians.

These usage-based fees have been passed on to consumers. Many ISPs are now offering plans that require users to pay a monthly fee for a particular amount of bandwidth (say 25gb) and then pay a hefty per-gigabyte fee if they exceed that limit, much like purchasing extra cell phone minutes once your plan is used up. Canadian users are in an uproar, because they feel that the limits imposed are insufficient to allow them to take advantage of things like online music downloads and streaming video. (Also, they feel that the $1/gigabyte fees are unfair, given that the actual cost to the companies of transmitting a gigabyte of information is more like $.03.)

For internet entrepreneurs, this ongoing saga means two things. First, it’s likely to hurt companies like Hulu, or any other services that require sending massive amounts of data to make their products work. Even though Youtube and other services are still “free,” users will end up paying hefty fees to get all the data necessary to watch videos or download large files. Even makers of computer games are likely to be adversely affected.

The new pricing structure does create some entrepreneurial possibilities, though. Many internet companies have introduced new services to help deal with the new regulations – like services that tell you how big an online video is before you download it. Another company is offering to download files for users and then ship them to them on CD. The ruling has ultimately provided some creative opportunities for entrepreneurs to make a buck off the new market structure.

Want to read more about what’s going on? Ars Technica has a great article on the subject.

America once was made of unorganized mom-and-pop shops. No American Eagle, McDonald’s or Home Depot. Communities were built by small business owners, and when their kids graduated from high school, they took over the family business. The American Dream, right?

Things sure have changed. Shopping malls and big corporations rule, and most people drive to an office every day. Their kids will go to college and move away to find their own jobs. Big business, right?

Wrong. There’s a new climate change and it doesn’t have anything to do with ozone.

As our economy has struggled, jobs have become hard to come by, and 20-somethings are increasingly individualistic, small business is a very attractive option for many young (and old!) Americans. The candy shop on a street corner may no longer be viable, but the internet is a vast plain of opportunity. Even current students here at Grove City College are starting their own businesses that rely heavily on web commerce. JJCrochet is an excellent example of a student with a skill that uses the web to sell her wares. Click here to check out her crocheted hats and other accessories!

If you’re thinking about your future employment and aren’t excited about sitting in a cubicle, start brainstorming and researching potential opportunities for E-Commerce and blogging (there’s plenty of ways to make money just by writing about your favorite topic!).