College clubs for Microfinance, what a concept!

Now here is a great idea! Clubs devoted to Microcredit are springing up on college campuses. And what better place to have such a club than in a higher learning institution, much better than a rugby club if you ask me.

All kidding aside, the newspaper for Northwestern University profiled the campus Microfinance club. Emily Wray detailed the club's goals.

Traveling to rural areas of Africa and India. Starting banks in small villages. Finding ways to fund local education and health care.

These are just a few of the goals of Northwestern's Microfinance Club.

Microfinance provides small loans for low-income people in underdeveloped countries so that they can work their way out of poverty, said Jesse Wiener, a member of the club's executive board.

The Microfinance Club hopes to increase student awareness of microfinance as a tool to alleviate poverty in developing nations. To achieve its mission, the club is seeking to organize open forums between students and faculty and to provide students with educational resources, including opportunities for research and independent study.

"Microfinance is a way for people like us to really help change the quality of life of people in underdeveloped countries," said Wiener, a Weinberg sophomore.

Right now, the club is working to raise $5,000 to start a village bank in Malawi. They hope to send members there one day to gain firsthand microfinance experience and to see the impact of their efforts on the community.

This club stuff had me curious since it was a new concept to me.A quick web search found a few similar clubs thought the states. We even found a how to document on how to start one at a campus near you.