Business Sector : Transportation
Business Activity : Retail
Loan Use : Purchase akuelo, pafa, and a compressor
Tiara Taeia, 23, is married with no children and lives in the village of Salailua, Sevaii. She fixes and cosmetically enhances cars as a mechanic and plans to sell her services to village people, friends and relatives, and the public six days per week. Tiara has no previous loans with SPBD and she will repay her first 1000 ST (~400 USD) loan over a period of twelve months. The expected weekly net cash flow from her auto service business is 800 ST (~310 USD). SPBD loans are Tiara’s only access to capital because she was never able to qualify for a loan at a traditional bank. Tiara will use her loan to purchase the equipment, including an akuelo, a pafa, and a compressor, that will enable her to grow and maintain her auto service business. She will be helped by her husband who has worked many years as a successful auto mechanic.
Business Sector : Food
Business Activity : Food Production
Loan Use : Purchase frying pan, spoons, flour, baking soda, forks, etc.
Tino Lavea, 65, is married with eight children and lives in the village of Safotu, Sevaii. She has two years of experience in the ‘pancake’ business and she sells to villagers and the village school four days per week. Tino has no previous loan(s) with SPBD and she will repay her first 1000 ST (~400 USD) loan over a period of twelve months. The expected weekly net cash flow from the pancake business is 200 ST (~80 USD). SPBD loans are Tino’s only access to capital because she was never able to qualify for a loan at a traditional bank. Tino will use the loan to purchase the equipment and ingredients, including frying pans, spoons, forks, flour, and baking soda, that will enable her to grow and maintain her pancake business. She will use a portion of the proceeds from the business to improve her family plantation.
I have just received a message from this Kiva group and after checking the Kiva forum and I tend to agree with Ashley “Check this one out. I’m genuinely concerned about this woman I mean, what is she going to do without an outsdoor storage shed?!”
I have always been a firm supporter of Kiva and I introduced their case study to my classes. This is a disappointment. Microfinance, in my opinion, has to stay “micro” and relevant to these under served countries that need it the most. I perfectly understand that many families in the US are navigating in turbulent waters but this is certainly not a good reason to use microfinance – in the case of kiva free credit – to finance 5000-10,000+ $ loans. There are a good deal of peer to peer lending platforms like zopa and many other opportunities for Americans or British lenders. Very little, if any, for people in Samoa, Cambodia etc.
Additionally, some MFI institutions complained that Kiva does restrict their projects: they can only post small loans of less than 500$. This is completely fine but why then open US loans to these “jumbo” loans ? If Kiva wanted to do something in the US it should have focused in entrepreneurial micro projects for the needy and not these type of loans.
Munyarubuga Francios, carries out a retail business of selling beer and he also has a video libraly as another small income generating activity. He needs the money to expand his business of selling beer and increase the profitability. Read the rest of this entry »
In the upcoming days we will be publishing the profiles of the first entrepreneurs that will be impacted by our soft loan. In the interim you can watch this very interesting video about SPBD
Alice deals in the sale of fabric in both wholesale and retail. She wants a second loan to invest in the purchase of more materials. This will enable her to serve more clients hence boosting her sales. Read the rest of this entry »
Ahimbisibwe Pius runs a shop selling shoes for men, women and children. He is seeking for a loan to increase his working capital and boost his business. Read the rest of this entry »
Mududu Francis runs a drug shop where he sells drugs and other kind of medicine. He is seeking for a loan to purchase a motorcycle for transport and also boost his stock. Read the rest of this entry »
Nakkazi Christine provides hair dressing services. She is seeking for a loan to increase her working capital and purchase more hair dressing machines. Read the rest of this entry »
Rwanda
Uganda
