Despite the global credit crunch, social entrepreneurs are continuing to invest in hope. Oikocredit – one of the leading financiers of microfinance – has decided to pay a dividend of 2% to its members for the 15th year in a row.

The UK wing of the global social investment initiative Oikocredit has teamed up with the Livesimply campaign to promote a shared vision for social justice. Oikocredit provides vital loans to creative but impoverished communities.

Oikocredit, a global member-based social investment co-operative which makes small loans to hundreds of vital development projects, has expressed hope that it will "really take off" in the UK after receiving its first major contribution.