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Sunday, March 7, 2010
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Financial Access at Birth (FAB) Campaign
- Inspired by One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) campaign, the FAB Campaign that I would like to see launched is that we open an Online Bank Account for Every Child that is Born with an initial deposit of $100
- The Online Bank Account can be opened together with Birth Registration
- The initial deposit, with accrued interest, can be withdrawn when the child is 16 years old
- If we start in 2011, by 2030 -in 20 years - every child and young adult in the world will have access to Financial Services. Currently, half the world has NO access to financial services such as savings, credit and insurance bit.ly/2CmcsZ
- Think of how easy this will make targeting of charity and aid - anyone with a click of button (with an internet interface similar to www.kiva.org, www.microplace.com or www.unitedprosperity.org ) could transfer funds to anyone in time of need - without resources being siphoned off
- How much will it cost?
- Currently, about 134 million children are born per year.
- Assuming that 25% of the children born to won't need the initial deposit of $100, we will need $10 billion per year for the remaining 75% - 100 million children
- Is that a lot? Not really - 100 million people donating $100 every year.
- We will need cooperation of the largest banks in the world (after all, they do need to repair their reputations and credibility), the technology companies, philanthropic organizations and committed and passionate people to make this work.
- Vijay Mahajan of BASIX, India (www.basixindia.com) first heard me talk about this idea. He is enthusiastic about it.
- I also discussed it briefly at a meeting of the Center for Financial Inclusion (www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org) in April, 2009 where some liked the idea and thought that it could work.
- This is just the initial idea. For the campaign to take traction, I need your help and support in making it visible. If you are on Twitter, please tweet about it) and ask your friends and followers to retweet. If you are on Facebook, share it with your friends. Blog about it.
- Link to this blog post is bit.ly/FABlog
- Don't forget to read many thoughtful Comments at the bottom of this post. Add your own observations.
1-310-844-6529 (1-310-Think B9)
fabcampaign@gmail.com
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