blog.51give.com

> Hi all, here is the plan.
>
> You guys should all arrive early around 7.30 and then we are going to
> have to practice to sing one of Hiu’s favourite karaoke songs.
>
> It’s going to be a wonderful surprise for us to sing to her.
>
> I will give a toast after the main course and mention how great Hiu is
> and when i say to her… Unforgettable, that’s what you are.  then we
> will start to sing from the first line….Unforgettable, that’s what
> you are.
>
> Unforgettable - Song Lyrics
>
> Unforgettable, that’s what you are.
> Unforgettable, though near or far.
> Like a song of love that clings to me,
> How the thought of you does things to me,
> Never before has someone been more.
>
> Unforgettable, in every way.
> And forever more (and forever more)
> That’s how you’ll stay (that’s how you’ll stay)
>
> That’s why darling it’s incredible,
> That someone so unforgettable,
> Thinks that I am unforgettable too.
>
> No never before, has someone been more
>
> Unforgettable (unforgettable) in every way (in every way)
> And forever more (and forever more)
> That’s how you’ll stay (that’s how you’ll stay)
>
> That’s why darling, its incredible
> That someone so unforgettable
> Thinks that I am, unforgettable too
>
> Unforgettable by Nat King Cole
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF0lRjWfC24
>
> Direct link http://www.51give.com/song/02%20Unforgettable.m4a which
> is better quality.
>
> Firstly, if husband/wives/girlfriends and boyfriends are omitted is
> because I don’t have their email, not that they aren’t invited.
> However, I need to know the numbers coming for the seating
> arrangements.
>
> Things to get
>
> 1.Sparklers  (yan hua or yan huo)  anyone know where we can get them?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Daniel

51Give.com is looking for volunteers to help develop www.51give.org to help orphans and rebuild schools after the Earthquake, please email volunteer@51give.com

For immediate relief, one of the best things to do is send a few SMS to the China mobile number to donate. The simplest way to do that is to send ‘1? or ‘2? by SMS to 1069999301, to donate 1 or 2 RMB to the Red Cross Society of China. The number of SMS donations is not limited and China Mobile users can send up to ‘30′ in one message. Other ways to donate here.

We all know about the devastating earthquake in Sichuan, China. But why did so many schools collapse? So far the estimates are near to 7,000.

This is a question being asked by many in China and has got a rapid response from the government.

“If quality problems do exist in the school buildings, we will punish those responsible severely and give the public a satisfactory answer,” Han Jin, head of the Ministry of Education’s development and planning department, said on Friday’s state-run forum.

Also state ran People’s Daily is keeping a pretty open policy with lively debate on the subject on their discussion forum. Users are freely pointing out corners must have been cut on the school construction.

On the international media -Time Magazine’s online edition:

“It was built out of tofu,” says Hu Yuefu, 44, of the school building that collapsed in the magnitude 7.9 quake and killed his 15-year-old daughter Huishan. He believes local government officials and the building contractors are responsible. As he speaks, a crowd gathers around to listen and offer their support. “I hope there is an investigation,” Hu says. “Otherwise, there are a thousand parents who would beat them to death.”

Other media praised Wen Jia Bao for moving so quickly, something that doesn’t always happen in other countries, remember Katrina.

Following on from my previous posting, now Nortel China employees have raised so far 320,000 rmb fully on their own backs and now Nortel has agreed to match this figure up to 100,000 USD (700,000RMB).

The challenge of survival is today, however soon the even bigger challenge of rebuilding lives, business and homes will begin.

Today the Red Cross ww.redcross.org.cn can help with immediate needs.

Soon when the rebuilding begins 51Give will to take an active role, we are currently in talks with partners on the next steps to make a difference.

51Give team

Focus on coming regulatory framework and constraints in rural areas at the “Regional Workshop China” in Beijing, organized by the World Microfinance Forum Geneva (WMFG)

February 28^th, 2008

One of the keywords heard on the Regional Workshop China organized by WMFG, was the word “trust”. On one side there should be trust granted by the peasants who will borrow the money, to the microfinance institutions who lent the money on the other side. Especially with new technologies that 51give is introducing, trust is also a very important issue. A trust, which can only exist, if a right regulatory framework is provided for the correct implementation of microfinance in China. A reserved promise for this was made by the People’s Bank of China (POBC) at the end of the day.

The morning program had interesting speakers from UNDP, China Agriculture University and the Rural Development Institute of CASS (Prof. Du Xiaoshan). The attendance of Prof. Du made the discussion very lively and focused a lot on the existing problems on providing microfinance solutions in the rural sectors (time consuming, accessibility, practical problems that occur for simple financial transactions). The story of SDR Consulting, followed upon this by explaining the upcoming possibilities in microfinance by the use of new technologies as mobile networks.

As 51give always emphasizes mobile networks should be more explored; as according to market research 50 percent of the peasants in rural areas already have a mobile phone. Mobile phones can be used to make communications to remote areas easier, but can also be used for mobile payments and in the near future even cash transactions. An area which 51give supports in the future by providing their internet and mobile platform for microfinance (for more information look at www.51give.com). One of the existing problems with mobile payments is off course that there should always be a unique identification of the client. Which is quite hard with all the prepaid phones going around. Off course there are already some solutions available for these practical problems.

A very detailed contribution to the workshop came from Mr. Bold Magvan from XacBank Mongolia about this subject. He told that they already did a project in Mongolia in which they used mobile phones to make transactions so peasants could do there repayments by mobile phone through a network of agents. This makes it possible that farmers for example do not have to travel for two days to make repayments. Off course mobiles phones also offer the possibility to function as informationportals. For example the service that Cellbazaar is providing can be extended to use for more microfinance purposes; let’s say the availability of all kinds of agricultural information about the region.

The overall feeling amongst the participants of the workshop was that, due to the efforts made in the last two to three years, now everything will fall into place very quickly; ‘ We are almost there … ’ as GTZ mentioned. The wishes about the new regulatory framework, necessary for providing the right settings for enabling microfinance in China, are clear and on their way and with the new coming technologies available we just have to do it. That means a new interesting year for microfinance has started.

At the end of May of this year there will also be a new interesting conference held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the 11^th Conference of Microfinance Institutions organized by the Microfinance Centre. For more information about 51give, please look at www.51give.com.

This is the forum website for World Microfinance Forum Geneva http://microfinanceforum.org/

Amazing, when I started in the internet business in China, there were 3 million users, now 10 years later the number is 210 million!

This coupled with the increased mobile deployment to over 500 million mobile users means the future is bright for technology based solutions to help microfinance in China.

(Associated Press via NewsEdge) The Chinese government said its internet population has soared to 210 million people, putting it on track to surpass the US online community this year to become the world’s largest.

The official China internet Network Information Center, also known as CNNIC, said the online population grew 53%, from 137 million reported at the same time last year.
According to the government’s Xinhua News Agency, China is only 5 million behind the US, a figure consistent with some American estimates.

China still lags the US in many respects, however.

Xinhua placed China’s online penetration rate at 16%, the point Americans were at in the mid-1990s.

According to the Pew internet and American Life Project, 75% of American adults are now online; penetration is even higher when teens are included. (China’s stats cover Chinese 6 and older.)

“We’re two countries at very different points along the adoption curve,” said John Horrigan, Pew’s associate director. “China is approximately 15 years behind.”

Several other differences between the two markets mean internet penetration has different meaning in China and the US.

First, cybercafes serve as the main entry to the internet for many Chinese unable to afford a computer at home. One-third of Chinese internet users surf through cybercafes, according to Xinhua, while Pew found that 93% of US internet users have access at home.

© 2008 The Associated Press

Hi all,

We are off meeting investors and the roadshow is going well.

We have a few major contracts signed.

The site is getting loads of attention from people in 64 countries and 310 cities (70 cities in China).

Our facebook group has passed 100 members which is great.

Functions in development are ready this week.

We are looking for more people to join the technical team and to get translations out in more languages.

Contact us as info @ 51give.com

Happy New Year,

Dan, Hiu and 51give

Hi all,

Firstly Seasons Greetings to you all. Thanks for all you comments and feedback. 51Give is now being viewed in 34 countries and 148 cities (42 cities in China).

We have some amazing partnerships to be announced by the end of Jan, enabling us to offer greater services to further help micro-finance in China.

We aim to have 100 members on our Microfinance in China group on Facebook by Christmas. So if you haven’t signed up, please do so, it takes 2 mins.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6822786724

We have also created some more groups for your convienience:

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/51give

Yahoo - http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/51give/

Google - http://groups.google.com/group/51give

Best Wishes,

Daniel, Hiu and the 51Give team

Hi all, now we have people in 25 countries, across 86 cities, viewing 51give.com

Our facebook group has 60 members ( Microfinance in China )

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6822786724

We are still in the Beta development stage and I thank all of you who have written back with comments, suggestions and even detailed bug reports to help the development team.

Just a reminder, all the data is currently just for testing purposes. Once we put the real data and enable the payment functionality, we will make a formal announcement.

If you would like to get involved, either in a paid role (part time / full time) or to volunteer, please get back to us.

info [at] 51give.com

Thanks for your support,

Daniel, Hiu & the 51Give team

Welcome to 51Give,

We have started out beta testing today. We are working on adding the content; Signing up MFI’s; creating new functions for both lenders, students and organisations.

We started out group in facebook today. 15 members have joined.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6822786724

We have had 50 users on the site today, helping as users only can all the things to make it easier for you to help others.

People from 10 different countries/regions have been viewing the site.

We are looking for people to join, both part time and full time.

http://www.51give.com/publicpages/jobs.php

Your feedback is valuable to us.

Many thanks,

The 51give team