'Entrepreneur Heroes' trading cards support micro-finance

What a cool idea: have some of the ‘net’s top bloggers choose their favourite entrepreneur, feature those entrepreneurs on inspirational trading cards, then sell those cards to raise money for Kiva, a micro-finance project that helps small startup businesses in developing countries.

That’s what EvanCarmichael.com (which last year named Greenbang on of the “Top 50 Social Entrepreneur Blogs To Watch In 2009”) has done with the release of its Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards. The cards profile top business leaders — from Steve Jobs of Apple and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com to Peggy Short and Jane Saunders of The Body Shop — with a photo on the front and an inspirational quote and background story on the back.

Each entrepreneur was selected by a well-known blogger. Seth Godin, for example, chose Duncan Hines as his favourite “Entrepreneur Hero” while Tim Ferriss (of the “Four-Hour Work Week”) picked Bill Gates.

Since its founding in 2005, Kiva has provided more than $100 million in micro-loans to 239,000 small-business owners in 50-plus countries.

Anyone who pre-orders the Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards also gets a chance to win a baseball signed by Steve Wozniak or limited-edition hologram cards of Wozniak and Jobs.