As regular followers of our Club know, we have an account with microfinance website LendWithCare which gives us the opportunity to give modest loans to small businesses in developing countries.
We opened our account in 2016 and have supported 411 entrepreneurs around the world since then - which translates to having helped 419 family members and helped create 247 jobs. The countries that we have been involved in helping include: Zambia, Malawi, Pakistan, Ecuador, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Zimbabwe and Peru. Everyone who has had a loan has either repaid or is repaying the loan on a regular basis; to date no one has defaulted on repayment of our loans.
We have funded enterpreneurs in the following sectors: farming, animal & poultry raising, retail-clothing, retail - food, general shops, health & beauty, sewing / tailoring, hairdressers, arts / handicrafts and so on.
For instance, a small loan was made to 57-year-old fisherman Ribe Pacilan Sr. in the Phillippines. Fishing is his main source of income to support his wife and nine children. The loan, with that of others, will go towards buying a new boat and hiring a repairmen for future repairs. Eleonor Mandawe, also from the Phillippines, was given a loan to repair her sewing machine, change the tyres on her tricycle and renovate her house. In Rwanda, we have supported Vedaste Nsengimana to invest in his grocery business, and by doing so we have helped his wife and five children. Meanwhile, in Cambodia we've helped mother-of-four Sovana Vith to buy some cows which she will raise on pastureland and then sell.
At the moment we're providing a total of 75 loans to businesses.
For more information about LendwithCare click here.
Picture: Fisherman Ribe Pacilan Sr. one of the entrepreneurs that we have helped to support. Picture credit: LendWithCare, with permission.
With thanks to Rtn Kailash Maunick.
