As part of the Saasu ‘doing the right thing’ guarantee (also known as RTG) we have a little thing called the Saasu foundation which donates part of our profit for us.

One of charities we support is Kiva, the microfinance gurus.

Kiva help developing nations from the ground up. They don’t donate cash, they lend it to entrepreneurs (we relate to these guys!) to help them start a business. Teaching them to fish for themselves (so to speak) rather than throwing them a fish.

The Saasu labs gang were celebrating recently because one of our first loans on Kiva was recently repaid. Kiva is a great service if you want to make a difference. The best thing is the funds are repaid and then recycled so the model is not only proven to work (impressive statistics on field partners) but it keeps on working.

See how your subscription to Saasu made a small difference to one guy via the Saasu foundation.

Kiva is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit in the US.

Saasu further supports the non-profit, education and health communities though the Saasu DISC program which is also part of our RTG. So if you know anyone in those segments tell them to give us a bell so they can get their free or discounted stuff.

I did some work in Cambodia (in Takeo province outside Phnom Penh) a few years ago as part of some other stuff and they have had a rough time over the years so it is nice to see some progress. Although, with only 3 in every 1,000 people having internet access, that progress is very slow (read about it on Reuters AlertNet).

But don’t just take our word for the fact Kiva do a great job, they also recently won a prestigious Webby which is very cool.

Saasu also had some more praise recently. Our good fortune continues in the form of customer feedback and and also globally recognised industry awards.

On top of the many great comments we get every day for our latest release(see below), we have also been nominated for and listed as finalists for three awards at CeBIT 2008 some of you might remember last year we won the big one

Three of my all time best customer testimonials recently are (paraphrased) -

• We chose saasu over netsuite on price (mid market customer)
• We chose saasu over zoho on features (small business customer), particularly Saasu Catch
• We chose saasu over MYOB on ease of use and because it is online (small business customer)

This demonstrates at the coal face the saasu productivity and cost benefits. Our unique delivery model is really performing for businesses and individuals.

Now for the fun stuff. Saasu has made the finals for three CeBIT 2008 awards -

• Business Advantage Award - Saasu.com is a finalist and made the final 5
• Excellence in Technology Services Award - Saasu.com is a finalist and made the final 4
• Platinum Award for Export Excellence - Saasu.com is a finalist and made the final 2

Thanks to all of those who support the Saasu foundation via our products. Congrats to Kiva and Boun Kim Loun. Oh, and fingers crossed for the CeBIT 2008 awards.