In a country beseiged by economic woes and a well-known lack of infrastructure both politically and culturally to nurture a start-up culture, oddly, a feisty start up culture thrives. French Internet pioneer, Loic Le Meur brought the tech world LeWeb in 2009 hoping to shine a spotlight on the start up world in France. He and his partner, Geraldine Le Meur, brought to town start ups from more than 80 countries to launch their start ups and rub elbows with the global technorati.

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina has been a champion of microlending for more than a decade, but this month marks her most significant entry into the loan-making business. On Thursday she announced a partnership withOpportunity International, an organization that since 1971 has provided access to savings, small business loans, insurance andtraining to more than four million people, over 93% of whom are women.