Category Archives: Miscellaneous

An Update on the Kiva Micro-Finance Experiment

Last September, I introduced you to Kiva, the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending initiative in a post where I posed the question Can Micro-Finance Make a Macro-Difference? after being referred to the site by a fellow hoser.

In an attempt to answer that question, I decided to conduct an experiment. Since last July, I have been making two loans a month under the hypothesis that if it works, after a year I will have enough capital in the Kiva system to help a new person every month as previous micro-loans get re-payed. To date, the doctor has made fourteen $25 Kiva micro-loans (which get bundled with other micro-loans to fund loans to individuals and groups through Kiva’s micro-finance partners):

Individual Institution Total Loan Loan Funded Disbursed Repayment Term Repaid to Date*
Gulchehra Rahimova LLC MLO Humo and Partners 1,175 June 28, 2008 July 12, 2008 12 months 33%
Din Ly CREDIT (World Relief) 250 June 28, 2008 July 12, 2008 18 months 22%
Araba Awotwe Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN) 350 August 14, 2008 August 28, 2008 7 months 43%
Serigne Cisse UIMCEC (Christian Children’s Fund) 975 August 15, 2008 August 29, 2008 12 months 25%
Mavluda Tosheva LLC MLO Humo and Partners 450 September 1, 2008 September 15, 2008 12 months 17%
Mario Aguilar Fundacion Paraguaya 475 September 1, 2008 September 15, 2008 11 months 18%
Irene Microfinanzas PRISMA 1,200 October 11, 2008 October 25, 2008 6 months 17%
Sokhna Sene UIMCEC (Christian Children’s Fund) 300 November 1, 2008 November 15, 2008 12 months 0%
Essoneya Tchindo WAGES 300 November 1, 2008 November 15, 2008 12 months 0%
Guillermo Microfinanzas PRISMA 325 November 1, 2008 November 15, 2008 10 months 0%
Olinda Microfinanzas PRISMA 325 November 27, 2008 October 31, 2008 6 months 0%
Sron Chea Group AMK 200 November 27, 2008 October 28, 2008 4 months 0%
Kayi Lawson Microfund Togo 1,175 January 2, 2009 November 17, 2008 18 months 0%
Abdulhokim Azimov LLC MLO Humo and Partners 600 January 3, 2009 January 17, 2009 10 months 0%
Averages 508 11 months

The interim verdict? All loans over 3 months old have had partial repayments, and the partial repayments appear to be more-or-less on track with respect to the requested repayment term. With an average requested repayment term of 11 months, repayments starting an average of 3 months after disbursement for most loans, and the very low default rates common to most of Kiva’s partners (the global average default rate is less than 3%), this indicates that one should expect, on average, 5% of all loans three months or older to be repaid on a monthly basis. This indicates that once I reach a point where I have over $500 worth of loans that have been distributed for more than three months, I should expect it to be the case that the monthly repayments are sufficient to cover the minimum micro-loan of $25 to a new individual or group. As I am loaning at a rate of $50 a month, this indicates that I should be able to start making new loans from partial repayments in month 14, which is close to my original expectation of being able to make new loans from repayments on previous investments after 12 months.

Conclusion? Still too early for the final word, but it still appears to work great. The site continues to disclaim (in the footer of every page) that lending to the working poor through Kiva involves risk of principal loss, but so does investing in the stock market and mortgage funds, but if you had invested in Kiva last year, unlike a lot of people, you’d still have your principal this year and the satisfaction of knowing you made someone’s life better.

Thus, I would still encourage you, if you’re still lucky enough to have any discretionary funds, to take part of them and try lending through the Kiva platform. Considering that you can start for $25, or the cost of one good bottle of wine (at the liquor store and not your local 300% mark-up restaurant), it’s an endeavor that the vast majority of us should be able to afford. And if even half of the 1.2B people in the developed world made even one loan a year, think of the sustainable difference it could make. That’s something worth aiming for. And if you do lend, remember to tell them that jeff <at> hosernews <dot> ca sent you (because one should give credit where credit is due). (And if you’re a Nova Scotian, you can even consider joining his team.)

And remember, there is a supply chain lesson here for all of us. If a good supplier is in trouble in these hard financial times, key customers can band together to keep it financially solvent until times improve through faster payments, guaranteed orders, and low-interest loans. And, in addition to the good feeling these customers will get from knowing they did right, they can also secure long-term capacity at a strategic supplier. Let’s face it — most business people want to do the right thing when given the choice, and many will be quite happy to sign a long term contract or guarantee if you bail them out. This means that if you stick by a good supplier when it’s having a bad day, it’ll stick by you through thick and thin.

*As of January 14, 2009

Help! I’m Out of Content! What Do I Do Now? (Part I)

This was the post I was going to run last Saturday until Somebody decided to go ballistic in “How the Heck Do You Get This Information” on Spend Matters, forcing me to instead give you Tips on Bashing Your Favorite Blogger (which you are free to use if you don’t get the joke).

Apparently writer’s block, or content block, is an epidemic among bloggers, especially at this time of year. I had always thought, based upon personal experience, that we bloggers had the problem of having too much to write about and that the hardest choice was picking the topic of the next post. Apparently I was wrong. Thus, I thought it would be a good idea to write a post elucidating what to do if you are a blogger who is out of content.

But I had a problem, because I couldn’t imagine not having at least a dozen different ideas. Then I realized that the answer was right in front of me! All I had to do is pay close attention to what my fellow bloggers did … and … voila … the ideas were there for the taking. So I give you, culled from the best and brightest, the top fifteen things to do when you’re a blogger who is (temporarily) out of content.

  • 15. A Whole Week of Best-Of
    Have a deep post archive? Do a whole week of “Best of” category lists. It’s quick, easy, and looks like you worked really hard sweating over which posts truly were your best.
  • 14. Global Warming Tirade
    Point out how serious we need to be about global warming, about how we need to think harder about being green, and how we have to take action right away … but don’t offer any useful or substantive suggestions.
  • 13. Another “It Will Work This Time” Post
    Pick a company that is selling the exact same solution as three of its competitors, using the same go-to-market strategy as a competitor that recently went out of business, and gush effusively about how you’re sure they will succeed.
  • 12. List After List After List
    Top 10 sourcing blogs? Check. Top 10 job sites? Check. Top 10 social networks? Check. Top 10 fantasy football sites? Wait, ignore that last one.
  • 11. Comment on the Content Distribution of a Competitor’s Blog
    You could comment on a post, or comment on a comment on a post, but why add to the conversation when you can analyze the distribution of someone else’s posts on risk management vs. best practices vs. auction posts? After all, random statistics are always interesting.
  • 10. Talk about how the latest regional conflict has the potential to threaten supply chains globally
    The India-Pakistan conflict is old news, look for something more obscure like a telephoned threat from the Kahane Chai, a tourist kidnapping in the Sudan, or a bombing by the GSPC. The smaller, the better!
  • 09. Post a Press Release
    It’s free content! After all, the company that issued the release wants as wide a distribution as possible, and they’ll thank you for it. Maybe they’ll even become a sponsor!
  • 08. Post a Resume
    Press releases are a good start, but why stop there when you can continue on your “free content” path and post resumes of your job-seeking friends and colleagues?
  • 07. Invent a New Claim About Best-in-Class Companies
    If others can build analysis companies on this one idea, you should be able to generate months and months of blog content with the same notion. Best-in-Class companies don’t waste money on snake oil — they use whale oil. Best-in-Class companies don’t buy cheap espresso makers — they buy the $5,464.31 Inox. You get the drift.
  • 06. Freak Up the FUD Factor
    Point out how risky life is in general, and how we should be very worried about risk. Find one-in-a-billion examples of freak accidental deaths that can result from everyday activities and then point out why we should not drive over bridges, take elevators, or go golfing on cloudy days. Better yet, raid the Darwin Awards archives and start a campaign against chemistry, clotheslines, and chimneys.
  • 05. Weigh in on an Irrelevant Controversy
    Like why Windows Vista stinks even more than Windows ME.
  • 04. Find Parallels Between Your Personal Life and Your Blog
    Pay too much for that new corkscrew? That’s bad personal spend management. Run out of coffee? That’s bad supply management. Your shoes need to be re-soled? Time for a quality tirade!
  • 03. Poll the Readership On A Random Topic
    Bonus points if it’s a knee-jerk issue guaranteed to elicit a barrage of random musings from the semi-illiterate members of your readership who enjoy “writting on mater’s that don’t effect myeself”.
  • 02. Raid the Trash Bin
    Those half-finished posts that you never finished last month because they didn’t live up to your past editorial standards don’t look so bad any more! Cut and paste paragraphs until you have three quarters of a post, write some random filler on why reverse auctions are the best way to source beer, and … presto … you have a post on good brewery spend management!
  • 01. Recycle Old Posts
    That post you wrote two years ago that everyone forgot about can be tomorrow’s post if you just change the date, and maybe add a new sentence at the beginning or end. Give yourself bonus points if it’s actually someone else’s guest post … what’s the chance they’re still reading your blog anyway if you ran out of meaningful things to say three months ago?

And that, in a nutshell, is my top 15 list of things to do when you’re out of content, courtesy of the blogging elite. In Part II I’ll outline my top 10 list of things I think you should post about if you’re truly out of relevant content and want to at least be creative when you post.

But in the meantime, I’ll use my own Suggestion #3 and troll for comments! Let’s see who can be the first to identify one post in each category from supply and spend management blogs (while limiting himself or herself to a maximum of three posts from any one blog)!

 

More Success in only 20 Minutes a Day, Part II

Today we continue with our list of “20 Things You Can Do in 20 Minutes to Be More Successful at Work”, tweaked to the supply management profession, to help you improve your game in 2009.

  • Knock on a New Door
    In order to provide strategic value, you have to understand how the business operates. Find out what drives profit and revenue, why the business spends on the products and services it buys, and if there are alternatives that could save money while providing the same level of value to the organization.
  • Is This The Job For You?
    Even if you’re in charge of the supply management organization, you don’t have to go down with the ship. If it’s not the right job for you, if you find that you’re just going through the motions or that you’re not excited when you get into work in the morning, you need to re-evaluate your position and whether you intend to go forward in your current organization, or a different one.
  • Peace, Love, and Understanding
    Pick a stakeholder in your organization and invite him or her to give you and your team a quick 15 minute presentation at what he or she does at your next 20-minute meeting. The more you understand your stakeholders’ needs, the better you’ll be at your job.
  • Get Linked-In
    The networking, discussion, and presentation tools may still be first generation, but they provide a great way to get in contact, and stay in contact, with your peers, share information, and ask questions that can lead to new and provocative insights. Don’t forget to join some groups.
  • Secure Your Data
    Your data is often the source of your competitive advantage. It should stay in your secure systems, and not in spreadsheets on your insecure laptop. Take the time to remove any sensitive data that might be lying around unsecured on your laptop, importing any that you need to save into your secure applications.
  • Talk to IT
    Make sure they understand what applications you use, and what you need to do your job effectively.
  • Listen to New Grads
    Ask your new recruits for ideas to improve the efficiency, productivity, and quality of your processes and workplace. They might lack experience, but today’s graduates are highly educated, tapped into new technology, and often very creative. Their ideas, seasoned with your experience, are often what you need to get out of a rut.
  • “Get” Your Vendor
    Your solution providers can improve your processes and technologies, and find savings you never knew existed, but the only way you can maximize your return is if you understand what they need from you to be the best they can be. Just about any best-of-breed consulting firm can come in and take 10% off the top of any category that’s in their area of expertise, but if you want 30% off the top, you have to understand how they work, what information they need, and how you help them help you.
  • Get Mobile
    Make sure everyone on the team has an iPhone or BlackBerry so that they can communicate and collaborate from wherever they happen to be. Remember, this is the networked generation, and they don’t always work in an office.
  • Go SaaS
    And your applications go with you.

And, finally,

  • Read Sourcing Innovation every day.
    Go back and read a post from the archives in addition to the day’s post. Not only are most posts bursting at the seams with educational content, but you’ll often take away more from a second read than you will from the first.

More Success in only 20 Minutes a Day, Part I

Last February, CIO ran a great article on “20 Things You Can Do in 20 Minutes to Be More Successful at Work”, which had some great advice for those of you looking to improve your game in 2009. As the article notes, not all changes require a military campaign. There are things you can do in just one-third of an hour that can have a meaningful and, yes, even a long-term, positive effect on your life, your job, and your enterprise. And when the suggestions are tweaked to the supply management profession, as I will do in this post, you know it’s worth the effort.

  • Counter Intelligence 101
    Grab the annual 10-K reports that your top competitors have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and read the section called “Management’s Discussion and Analysis” that describes what happened to the company in the past year that was good and bad. Look for anything supply management related to see where additional opportunities might lie for you.
  • The Mini-Meeting
    Reschedule all of your internal supply management meetings for just 20 minutes … as the article notes, there’s only about 15 to 30 minutes of true productivity in most meetings, even though most last an hour or more. If there’s too much to cover, hold another mini-meeting the next day after you’re refreshed. And, finally, cancel all regularly scheduled meetings … you should only meet to discuss major decisions, not minor ones.
  • Business Intelligence 201
    Pay attention to projects that didn’t meet expectations last year … then think about how new processes and technologies could help you do better next time around, and make sure you get those processes and technologies in place before the category comes up for re-sourcing.
  • Your Solution Provider, Revealed
    Ask your most important software and service providers to conduct an assessment of their relationship with your organization. Then ask them to present their top three ideas for improving the relationship and providing more value to you, their customer. You might be pleasantly surprised.
  • Self-Knowledge is Power
    Take a good look inward and ask yourself if you’re working toward something with a tangible ROI or just going through the motions. If it’s the latter, figure out what you can do to get back on track.
  • Call a Customer
    Pick up the phone and call the various individuals in your organization that are the most affected by your sourcing decisions and ask them how you’re doing, what they like about the current contract, what they don’t like, and what you can do better. After all, if you’re not meeting their needs, you’re not doing your job.
  • Forget E-Mail
    If you’re a best-in-class organization, you probably have a plethora of best-of-breed procurement tools at your finger tips … and chances are that at least one of these will have an internal collaboration platform. Use the tools you have to their full potential … you have them because e-mail and spreadsheets don’t allow you to achieve maximum potential.
  • Say Yes to Training for You and Your Staff
    Best-in-class organizations are best-in-class for a reason … they do everything they can to stay best-in-class, which includes regular training. And the great thing about (good) supply management training is the return is always exponentially greater than the investment. Just do it.
  • Communicate with Everyone
    Talking to representatives of the different groups in your organization gives you a more complete and cohesive view of organizational realities that you aren’t likely to get simply from conversing with your peers on a daily basis.
  • Go for a Walk
    Not only will it reduce your risk of heart attack, keep your weight down, and help you manage stress … but it will clear your mind to help you think more clearly and creatively … and we all know that innovation is the path to success.

Come back tomorrow for the next 10 things you can do to increase your success in only 20 minutes a day!

Tips on Bashing Your Favorite Blogger

For those who have been paying attention, I was going to post a good-hearted humor rant today on “what to do if you’re a blogger who’s out of content”, but after Somebody’s mean spirited verbal bashing of a fellow blogger in “How the heck do you get this information” on Spend Matters, I felt I had to hold off out of respect, especially since I used that blog as part (but nowhere near all) of my inspiration for the post. So instead, for those of you who feel that they must spend their time bashing bloggers instead of contributing useful information to the discussion, I give you a rather dry post on how to do it right. (And for those of you who feel I have attacked you personally, feel free to use them if it will make you feel better, as this will help you think straight and realize that, chances are, it wasn’t about you.)

Let’s face it, every now and again your favorite blogger, who is only human, will say or do something that you think is completely idiotic. And sometimes it will rattle your cage to the point where you’ll forget about your shy lurker ways and feel the need to post something scathing in reply to knock that smarty-pants off the high horse (s)he’s riding. And it’s okay to feel that way, especially if the blogger posted something that is quite silly when the blogger should have known better, but it’s not okay to go psycho and anonymously deliver a raging verbal smack-down dripping with acid. Not only is it likely to have the opposite effect of what you intended (as the blogger might simply get angry and bust you down so hard that your sagging ego will still be reeling this time next week), but you’ll like a complete idiot to the majority of his (or her) readers who will be saddened or angered at what will have been a completely unprovoked, and if you misinterpreted the blogger’s message, an unwarranted attack on your part. Unless, of course, you do it right. So here are three tips to help you get it right if you truly have nothing better to do than bash (your fellow) bloggers.

1. Keep it light-hearted and keep the humor genuine.*

Every blogger needs a good bashing once in a while, especially if the blogger is perceived to be a thought leader by those in the mainstream media that are supposed to be in-the-know and the blogger is overly prolific. It’s no secret that I like to bash a few of my fellow bloggers from time to time (and take a few lumps myself, though not always where I expect them), and will not hesitate to jump into the fray when a blogger posts something that I believe the blogger clearly should have put more thought or effort into; but each and every time I do my utmost to keep my public comments from getting too personal and too nasty, unless I believe it to be reasonably clear that the comments are in pure jest (as nothing livens up the blogsphere like a good natured smack-down). Let’s face it, without your bloggers, all you’d have is the traditional trade publications and the analyst firms, and that would be a very sorry state of affairs when you consider how stale some of the publications have become and how a number of reputable analysts have made it public knowledge that they are forced to be quite reserved about what they do and don’t say about their firm’s customers in their public writings. Remember, without us to keep the pressure on, they could feed you the same-old, same-old year after year and keep calling it “new-and-improved” when it’s “yesteryear’s news”.

* The only exception is when you decide to engage in a debate against yourself. Then sometimes it’s funny to take it over the top.

2. Make a valid argument.

Comments along the lines of wake up and smell the coffee you arrogant sloth, EIPP has been old news since 2003, while potentially true, are not very helpful and only serve to demonstrate your ignorance as you have not offered a single fact to back it up. If you had instead said “I’m sorry, but I don’t see the relevance or importance of yet another new EIPP solution from vendor X because vendor Y has been offering exactly the same solution for three years, details at this web address“, you would have made a valid discussion point and engendered a lot less animosity along the way.

3. But most of all, keep it civil.

Sometimes a blogger will get it dead wrong, sometimes a blogger will climb too high a horse, and sometimes the blogger will do both in the same post. Although the latter is quite rare for a professional blogger, bloggers are only human and it can happen, especially if the blogger believes he is right. But if he’s not, chances are he wants to know it because professional bloggers care more about getting the message right than looking stupid on occasion, as long as you’re civil in pointing out his mistake. Remember, bloggers are only human and a personal attack is likely not going to accomplish anything besides enraging the blogger who will have difficulty seeing past your incompetence in communication and his gut-instinct to take you down a peg or two. But if you’re calm, clear, rational, and polite … chances are he’ll not only concede every point, but thank you for it.

As long as your blogger makes an honest effort on a regular basis, he or she deserves a little slack from time to time. And if he starts abusing that privilege, and you feel that you must call him out, then feel free to do so, but be civil and constructive — because if you’re not, you’re not helping anyone. Finally, all the good bloggers publish their e-mail addresses on their blog and we’re all open to constructive criticism. So if you can’t be subtle, you can always consider going direct to the source with your comments.