Our MEDA Trust testers spent several weeks on the website testing for functionality and
making sure every segment was functioning well. Their response was overwhelmingly
positive. Read more below...
Don Horning
Don and Carol Horning
When I heard about MEDA Trust in Tampa, I thought it was very interesting. I think
what may prove to be the success of it is that people know where their dollars are going.
That's my hope for this thing. I'm still navigating the site myself, but I think the secret's
going to be the connection. You've never had a chance to make this connection from
your office or living room to check in on the loan.
I think it's comforting to me that MEDA seems to be on the leading edge of this use of
technology. I am almost certain others will take notice of this. My interest is in how it
will spread MEDA further. Groups, families, Sunday school classes, I think it may spread
beyond the normal parameters in the MEDA network.
Jonathan Crawshaw
Jonathan, Declan and Alex Crawshaw
I've enjoyed using it. The kids and I both picked someone to grant a loan to. The kids are
13. They were the ones who decided who we were going to grant a loan. They're primary
concern in choosing a loan was how many kids these people had. Whoever had the most
kids got the money.
Maybe they thought that in the future that someone would help them out. They seemed to
like the idea and wanted to donate money from their paper route for this.
I think it's good for the kids to see that even something small like $50 does a lot of good
in other places. A small amount of money from our perspective is quite a lot in other
places.
JB Miller
JB Miller
I was excited be a part of the beta group. I funded three loans. Already I've had one of
the loans have a repayment for a third of the entire loan. It's easy to navigate and I like
the broad range of businesses. Regardless of one's interest, there are businesses here that
people can fund - clothing stores, cattle, bakeries. There's a real nice variety in the loan
possibilities.
Being a banker in the past and still working in a lending function, I am very interested in
loans. I've been interested in micro-enterprise. There's a lot of personal connection. The
question was always how do you connect a donor with a hands-on project? I was a
believer before it came on line. I think this is how organizations need to engage donors. I
think the thing that surprised me was the way that a small contributor can be engaged. I
didn't think I could fund a loan for $100. I was very pleased with this.
One of the things that Howard Good and I have been talking about is there is not a
MEDA chapter here. There are a couple of us here who are interested in starting a
chapter. I think this is one way to provide a local chapter to sink their teeth into
something MEDA's doing. This area is largely professional people and I think it'll be a
way for them to be engaged in MEDA.
Daniel Dyck
Daniel Dyck
I like the idea. It basically allows people to be connected and be engaged in microfinance.
What I also like is that it gives users the realization of the impact that they are making. It
helps quantify the donation and gives satisfaction and the awareness of what the program
is accomplishing. It's a great starting point to discussing microfinance. The website
brings up the issue and points people to that direction. It also encourages people of all
ages to get involved and how even a hundred dollars goes a long way to assisting people.
Practically, I thought the website was pretty intuitive. Links-wise it was set up very
nicely. Before you finance a loan you can figure out more about the industry and country.
