Our microfinance project now passed the $40,000 mark
[i-microfinance loans in Kyrgyzstan]
Remember we started "Change Starts Here", our microfinancing project, here on the Road?
Well, in two years, our Kiva lending team grew to 82 people, who issued over 1,000 loans, for a total value of $42,000... Not bad, hey?
The latest loan was issued to Sobirahon Ahmadalieva (on the left on the picture) in Aravan, Kyrgyzstan. Sobirahon breeds cattle for resale after fattening. In this way she earns about $85 per month. With her microfinance loan of $1,066 she wants to purchase two bull calves for breeding.
We funded 10% of her loan request, which she will pay back over the course of the next 18 months.
The scorecard overview of our project, you can find on Have Impact.
The Monfort Plan: An interview
[i-Jaime Pozuelo-Monfort]Yesterday, we had Jaime Pozuelo-Monfort introduce his new book, The Monfort Plan himself. Today, we are fortunate to catch him for an interview.
The Road: Reading through the dissertation, I see in front of me an idealist, a dreamer, a marketeer, and a politician. Which one are you?
Jaime: I am a realistic dreamer, a utopic idealist. I am the multidisciplinary European and an aspiring candidate to Chief Dreamer. Nothing can be proven if it is not implemented before. This is a Journey, the Journey of our lifetime. As such it may or may not lead to the final destination. We will know in 2050.
The Road: In what way does plan differ from all other attempts. What makes it unique?
Jaime: It incorporates imagination and creativity, suggests a realistic and implementable forward-looking action plan and proposes the best team of Expert Dreamers that have ever served the global public interest and a group of six countries that become the founding members of The New Architecture of Capitalism.
The Road: What are the 6 countries in subsaharan Africa do you have in mind you mention "that have shown their determination to build up a basis upon which they can prosper"
Jaime: From West to East: Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania and Madagascar
The Road: You make many analogies to the post WWII Marshall plan. But if anything, that was a massive injection of cash into a continent. A multitude of that amount has already been poured into Africa. Why has the impact been so small so far?
Jaime: Microfinance was not exploited. Economies of scale were not implemented. The middle man was not eliminated. The population was not incorporated to the vision. Developed countries did not reform areas such as trade or agriculture. The Bretton Woods Institutions did not help with their structural lending programs of the 1980s and 1990s. The Cold War fed and exacerbated the burden of civil wars.
The Road: If you would suggest a new cash injection, where would that come from, now that aid organisations are even struggling to meet the immediate short term needs.
According to FAO, 1/6th of the world population is hungry. Of which probably 150 million die if they did not receive food aid. But yet, aid organisations are unable to raise even enough cash to feed the dying. Nourish the sick. The L'Aquila promises all seem to be hot air.
Jaime: Innovative financing for development is an area that has not been much explored. I call it positive shock therapy. I call it the value of consensus. There are vast amounts of funds hungry to obtain higher returns with long-term opportunities. There are a myriad of new opportunities that the book will discover.
The Road: You mention microfinancing as part of your theory for economic development, including the development of the public sector. But microfinancing is based on individual entrepreneurship. It seems like the public sectors you mention are typically not individual neither entrepreneurship, but public services. How would you link those public services to the drivers of the success of microfinancing, which were "putting the initiative and responsibility on the individual"?
Jaime: Two different areas. The universalization of microfinance through two new organizations (Bank for the Poor and Yunus-Fund) focuses on microbusiness expansion. The delivery of global public goods aims at providing a social fabric that will contribute to building up an educated and healthy workforce from which entrepreneurs will arise.
The Road: Reading through your dissertation, it looks like you concentrate on politics, and global structures as the solutions.
Jaime: This is am ambitious vision that spans over forty years, the Glorious Forty and targets the eradication of extreme poverty through the increase of average incomes and the shrinkage of the global income distribution. Average incomes have to be boosted up and inequality has to be brought down.
The Road: You would like to start "a supranational organization that accepts new members on an ex-ante conditionality clause". I have visions of lavish state dinners and the typical political gatherings which mean nothing, change nothing, cost a lot. Name me one geo-political organisation that makes a change or has made a change in the past.
Jaime: European Union, SADC.
The Road: One of the theories going around is the that first world likes a poor Africa, likes conflict in mineral rich areas. It gives them cheaper access to the natural resources.
Jaime: I do not believe in conspiracy theories. I think our political and economic elites lack the vision of the great men of the 1940s and 1950s. I think we continue to maintain and perpetuate the national interest over the global interest. We must transition from a world that defends North-American or European nationals to a world where everyone has the opportunity to move forward. It may sound idealistic, I call it utopic.
The Road: Many regions of Africa are poor, simply because "the physical environment" does not allow prosperity. Desertification, continuous floods/droughts,.. Others because of the geo-political climate. Maybe it is no longer the battlefield of a cold war: communist versus capitalist countries, but a new hot war: christian versus muslim countries. All fought out in Africa?
Jaime: I think academia has shown that this is a myth. I think there has been a vision implemented for Western Europe. I think Western societies to which I belong lacked the ambition and the belief that change can be brought on board. There are solutions to the great evils of our time. We have simply ignored that creativity and imagination can propose forward-looking policies that tackle once and for all the very roots of poverty and conflict. There are interests nobody dared to touch. Incentives can be aligned between rich and poor to move forward together.
The Road: Let's take 3 troubled countries in Africa. Can you detail how your theory would aid DRC, Somalia, Darfur.
Jaime: Difficult. I argue that the six countries where the New Architecture of Capitalism may emerge are in the southern cone of Africa largely for three reasons: proven willingness to be part of an ex-ante conditionality scheme, low political risk and high peace index, and a recent history of supranational cooperation. In addition four of the six countries are categorized as Least Developed Countries according to the United Nations. It is important to first build up a successful pilot.
The Road: Your dissertation concentrates on Africa. How about poverty in the Middle East, Asia?
Jaime: If accomplished, the new scheme could enlarge to other candidate countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South Asia.
The Road: Jaime, thanks for your time, and the best of luck with your book, and your endeavours!Jaime graduated from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 2000 with a master’s and a bachelor’s in telecommunications engineering. He also studied two years as an exchange student at Télécom Paris and Universität Stuttgart. Subsequently he earned master’s degrees in business administration from Collège des Ingénieurs in Paris, in financial economics from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, in financial engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, in economic development from the London School of Economics, and in public administration from Columbia University.
He currently pursues a master’s in international law and politics at Georgetown University and a master’s in public health at the London School of Hygiene.
He has worked in the technology sector in Madrid, Stuttgart and Paris, and in the financial industry in New York City and London.
His interests lie in the interaction between financial economics and economic development. He is a columnist in written and electronic press.
"The Monfort Plan" is available via Amazon and Wiley Finance
More interviews on The Road.
Wrap-up of our Philippines fundraiser
[i-Philippines flooding]
After the Philippines was hit by two consecutive typhoons, I started a project to raise the awareness of both the scale of the devastation and the impact it had on individual people. At the same time, I wanted to mobilize people to issue microfinance loans to entrepreneurs in the Philippines.
I described the devastation and outline the project on the kickoff post, asking people to comment. I committed to raise $5 per comment left on that post. Little did I know how it would take off.
Last night was the fundraising deadline. In about 11 days time, the post received 1,211 comments (!). That is good enough for US$6,055. Needless to say that on the 1st anniversary of Change Starts Here, The Road's social project, I could not be more proud...
It probably could not have been more timely, as sadly this weekend, a third typhoon hit the Philippines.
While, for the Philippines project, we allocated already over $4,400 new loans (check here, here and here), in the past year the 76 members of our Kiva lenders team issued US$21,000 in microfinance loans to 520 different people all over the world (check the score card).
To change is possible! Why don't you join our Kiva Lenders team too?
Picture courtesy WFP Logistics
Microfinancing at work in the Philippines after the typhoons
[i-link]
Mary is a Kiva Fellow who is currently in the Philippines. She works with ASKI, one of the Kiva's local microfinance partners. ASKI operates 24 branches of which Ilagan, Tugugraro and Cayaun were the hardest hit by the recent typhoons.
Of the 60,037 ASKI Clients, 5,943 (about 10%) were affected by the typhoons. The total damage, both personal and businesses amounts to US$1,405,808...
She wrote me an update:The standing crops were damaged due to “VERY” strong wind. Rice crops were totally damaged and lost. Vegetables crops and fishing business were totally washed out... The above villages are still in recovery especially in the village of Antagan 1 & 2 which were the most affected.
The typhoon caused a lot of damages in the people's livelihood. Most of their ricefields which were ready to harvest, were totally wash out due to flash floods. Hundreds of cows and carabaos were also found dead.
ASKI is made up of 2 arms: an Micro Finance Institute and a foundation. When things like the typhoon hits, the MFI taps on the shoulders of the Foundation so they can offer as many contingencies as possible to lenders and still remain solvent.
ASKI has responded to the storms in an amazing way: quickly and compassionately they personally delivered $26,000 of relief goods in dangerous ares to all affected communities in Central and Northen Luzon, based on need. The Foundation has also set up a Disaster Council for future financial and logistical planning.
ASKI recently implemented mandatory crop insurance (PCIP) from the government of the Philippines for all agricultural loans. They are now speeding up implementation. The ASKI board has just approved the following loan contingency plans. Together, clients and loan Officers will decide which of 3 options makes sense for each situation: a loan moratorium, a loan restructuring or a refinance.
In the mean time, our project raising funds for the microfinance entrepreneurs affected by the recent Asian typhoons generated $2,500 so far. For every comment left on this post, I will fund US$5 for entrepreneurs in the area.
Picture courtesy Philippe Martou of WFP Logistics, which set up an extensive relief operation in the region.
Let's do something for those affected by the floods in the Philippines
[i-Leoncia%20Arellano]
In the past weeks, two deadly storms struck the Philippines killed more than 700 people and destroyed the livelihoods of millions.
Unfortunately, many of the entrepreneurs we support through our microfinance project have been affected. One of them was Leoncia (picture).
To do my part in helping these courageous people recover, for each comment left on this post, I will donate US$5 to microfinance entrepreneurs in the affected areas.
So go now, and help in two easy steps which take no more than one minute of your time:
- Read this post
- Leave a comment there.
Peter
Update Oct 22:
In 24 hours, we got 230 comments. We are on a roll...! Please spread the message through your blog, Twitter, Facebook,... and link to this post.... If we stretch the limit of my personal finances, I have some sponsors lined up that will chip in. Keep the comments coming! Read the full post...
Picks of the week: Project 10 to the 100, 350, peace x peace...
[i-oranges on tree]
Here are the interesting links I harvested last week:
- Last fall, Google.org's Project 10^100 called for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. Thousands of people from more than 170 countries submitted more than 150,000 ideas. Now is your time to help selecting the best.
- 350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis--the solutions that science and justice demand.
- Vittana is a microfinance site, like Kiva, bringing student loans to the developing world through the power of person-to-person micro-lending. The difference is that Vittana borrowers are students who are in need of capital to finance their education. After the student finishes school and finds work, they pay the lenders back.
- Peace X Peace is connects women across cultures for friendship, support, and action for peace.
- Daily Good is a community blog delivering an inspiring quote, a related good-news story, and a simple action. "Good" does not have to be "big".
More Picks of the Week on The Road. Read the full post...
Our microfinance project runs as a train
[i-girl painting]
In between the negativity of the tragic news of bombings in Islamabad and Peshawar this week, the continuing earthquakes and floods in Asia, the droughts in East Africa, and warnings of upcoming floods in Africa later this year, here is a bit of positive news.
Almost a year ago, I used The Road to the Horizon to kick off "Change Starts Here", our micro finance project.
Little did I know that 11 months later, the project would take that high a flight... I started it as an "I need to do more" project, donating $1 for each comment on the kickoff post.
Soon, colleagues at work joined, and we held several evening dinners, where people contributed to the project.
Then friends from our Antarctic expedition team joined in, and brought the total to over US$3,000.
From time to time, an individual stepped up and had the project take a leap. Like Ekram who asked people to allocate a loan to Kiva as a birthday present, rather than gifts. Just this week, another Friend joined and gave US$300 from her mission allowance to these loans.
Our Kiva Lenders team gradually expanded to 25 active members who have contributed US$4,614 to date.
As time went by, Kiva entrepreneurs paid back loans to us, which we reinvested. The total of re-allocated loans comes to US$5,141.
In May, I started a new blog, Have Impact!, where I post all updates and new loans.
The project has issued over 300 loans, for a total value of US$14,475. Our Kiva lenders team has 25 members. Not bad, after 11 months, hey?
As we will soon celebrate the one year anniversary of our project, I am preparing a small competition and fundraiser. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, check out the project score card. Join our Kiva team.
We raised $1,000 in a day!
[i-Joice Dodo]
Joice Dodo in Juba (Sudan), wanted to expand her bread baking business to build a house she wants to rent out. We loaned her $50 via Kiva's micro financing scheme.
She is one of the loans we issued today:
Today, we gave these loans on behalf of Bex (as a birthday present for "E")
- Lina in Lebanon: $50
- Dao Thi Sau in Vietnam: $50
- Joice Dodo in Sudan: $50
Temmy and other team member of our Kiva Lending team chipped in more, so in a span of only 24 hours, we raised
for loans on our Kiva micro financing project... We are now just a breath away from $10,000. Who would have thought this was possible when we started "Change Starts Here", only six months ago?
Follow the progress of our project on our scorecard, and why not join our lender's team? Read the full post...
More micro finance loans
[i-susan edward]
Susan Edward from Juba in Southern Sudan is 28 years old and married to a teacher. She has two children who are in school. Susan sells green vegetables at the market and is requesting a loan to open a shop.
We gave her a micro finance loan of $50.
This is one of the new loans we gave as part of $400 raised at the birthday party of my friend "E", who also wrote this short story on The Road.
"E" preferred not to receive gifts for her birthday, but asked for people to donate to our Change Starts Here project.
Ester was one of the people who stepped forward.
Thanks to Ester and "E", we financed these projects:
- Grace Elunai in Sudan: $50
- "Women in Need" group in Sierra Leone: $100
- Mimania Edward in Sudan: $50
- Susan Edward in Sudan: $50
- Rena Hasanova in Azerbayijan: $25
- Enero Women in Paraguay: $75
- Rubelyn Lumanta in Philippines: $50
Follow the progress of our project on our scorecard
With a big thanks again to Ester and "E"!
Change Starts Here: We just broke the $7,000 mark!
[i-Irina in Ukraine]
W00T! With the funds collected during a small group lunch, re-investment of repaid loans and more loans given by our Kiva lenders' team, we just flew past the $7,000 mark on our social project.
Our latest micro finance loans went to Afghanistan, Philippines, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Bolivia, Uganda and Ukraine.
One of them was Irina Tatarchook (picture) in the Ukraine. Irina wanted to expand her assortment of flower offerings in her market stall. We gave her a loan of $50.
Check out our project score card.
The background of this project, you find in the kick-off post.
The latest project news tid-bits, you can also find The Road's discussion forum.
The end of world poverty as we know it. Or not yet?
[i-kiva running out of loans]
Faithful readers from The Road know of our blog's social project we started back in November. We fund microfinance projects via Kiva, an online non-for-profit "brokerage" service between those in need of a micro finance loan and those willing to fund them.
Over the past months, readers from The Road, friends, friends of friends, and colleagues jumped in, and joined our Kiva lenders' team. At this moment, we total over $6,400 of loans (Check here for the latest status)
The system seems to work well, and after the initial investment in loans, the repayments started to come in two months after the first loan. At this moment, about US$2,000 of loans have been repaid.
It seems Kiva's success caught on real fast. This week alone, they allocated US$1.8 million of microfinance loans. Quite impressive, if you consider that a typical loan is given in chunks of $25.
Kiva's success is that big that often, like tonight, you log onto their site, and... they have ran out of people to allocate loans to.
A bit frustrating, knowing that at this moment I am 'sitting' on $600 of repaid loans I would like to reinvest, but on the other hand, their success and apparent efforts to keep up with the success of microfinancing, and particularly success of the brokerage-system of Kiva, shows a difference can be made.
As I am, right now, looking at the screen of the lenders page, searching for people to allocate loans to, I only see grey'd-out fields of entrepreneurs with the remark 'Fully Funded', I am thinking of the song of John Lennon. And "imagine" that maybe that will be, one day, the status of poverty in the world. "We are sorry, but we no longer have people in need".
Call me a dreamer.
More microfinance loans, from Togo to Nicaragua
[i-We just invested in the business of Yawa Ameganvi in Togo!]
Yiepee! We're now totalling US$5,850 on our social project.
We just got $500 refunded from previous loans and reallocated them to new microfinance loans for Kiva entrepreneurs:
- Hilda Bermejo in Peru (Party Supplies): $50
- Yawa Ameganvi in Togo (Sewing machine): $50
- Paulina in Peru (Food stocks): $50
- Evangelista Carranza in Nicaragua (supply tocks): $50
- Shabana Zafar women in Pakistan (Supply stocks): $100
- Uzma khanum women in Pakistan (Tailoring): $100
- Irshad Bashir women in Pakistan (Bakery stocks): $100
Follow the progress on our scorecard!
Kiva is looking for volunteers
[i-Tajikistan Kiva borrowers]
Many of you will know of "Change Starts Here", The Road's social project, funding microfinance loans via Kiva. our scorecard lists all loans, for a total of over $5,000 so far.
Tamara commented on a previous post that Kiva offers core volunteer programs, which might interest readers from The Road:
• Kiva Fellows Program: Individuals spend 10 weeks to one year with a microfinance institution in a developing country, chronicling the lives of the working poor and assisting the microfinance institutions to maximize their relationship with Kiva.
• Kiva Translation Program: Volunteering from their own homes, individuals take entrepreneurs’ loan profiles written in the local language and translate them to English. The profiles are then posted for lending on Kiva.org. Kiva Translators help bring the entrepreneurs’ stories to life for potential lenders.
Languages needed include: Bahasa Indonesia, French, Mongolian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Check out other Kiva Volunteering possibilities.
Picture courtesy Kiva
Picks of the week: How rich am I, news sites and giving.
[i-links]
Here are the interesting links I harvested this week:
- A blog about strange maps and nothing but strange maps.
- Where do you rank on the World's Richest List"? Find out on GlobalRichList. They put it nicely into perspective too.
- A great news site that lets you filter the news by subject: Topix.
- Talking about news: did you know you can browse through the list of lists of online newspapers, magazines and Ezines via Google/Top/News?
- United Prosperity is announced to be up soon, claiming to be the world's first person to person loan guaranteeing website. An alternative to Kiva?
- Giving in a Digital World is an interesting blog with ideas and news related to all forms of digital fundraising and non-profit marketing.
- This project is just one of many creativity projects featured on the Behance website.
- And last but least, Pifworld is a new website providing an easy way to find projects that you really care about. From hunger relief projects to wildlife protection. From HIV awareness to building a school.
Our Kiva project 13: Bliquis Aziz
Bliquis Aziz's group[i-Bliquis Aziz's group]
Here is a summary of The Road's 13th social project:
Bilquis baji lives in Pakpattan, Pakistan. The city is famous for its shrine of great Punjabi Sufi poet, Babar Fareed Ganj Shakkar.
Bliquis baji is the mother of two sons, both of whom are auto-rickshaw drivers (the local three-wheeled motor vehicle). She is a housewife but applies for a loan to buy another rickshaw for her eldest son, so that he able to increase his profits as a transit driver.
This is a group loan, and she is joined in her request by four other members. The loan funds will be distributed among the group members, each of whom will invest in their own business:
- Kaneez baji wants a loan to buy a mirror and chair for her beauty salon.
- Zafran baji also wants a loan to buy a rickshaw.
- Mukhtayar baji wants a loan to buy tools for her vehicle repair workshop.
- Saima baji wants a loan to buy cigarettes for her cigarette selling business.
The members mutually guarantee one another's loans. If one member does not repay, the other members are responsible. (See also the group's full profile on Kiva)
This loan goes through "Asasah", the local micro financing partner of Kiva.
Loan Request: $900
Repayment terms: 11 months (Deadline Dec 15 2009)
We gave them a loan of US$100
This is The Road's 13th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.
More on The Road's social project "Change Starts Here".
You can keep track of our project via our score card. Read the full post...
"Change Starts Here" broke the $5,000 mark!
[i-one of the loans we made today: the Lim Vuthea Women's group in Cambodia]
"Change Starts Here", our blog's social project just broke the $5,000 mark!
Tonight, we received a series of repayments on loans we previously made and reinvested them in the following new Kiva micro financing projects:
- Kamil Akhmadov in Azerbaijan: $50 (purchase of two calves)
- Marcia Mejia Women in the Dominican Republic: $25 (expand shop inventory)
- Lim Vuthea Women in Cambodia: $50 (repair of their house)
- Evelyn Dionela in the Philippines : $50 (purchase of a freezer to store the food she sells)
- Altantsetseg Duden in Mongolia: $50 (expand the assortment of books she sells in her store)
- Norma Andia Conga Women in Peru: $50 (expand the variety of items in stock for their stores)
- Khayyam Tagiyev in Azerbaijan : $50 (spare parts for his taxi)
- Laure Agbogbe in Togo: $50 (expand her cosmetics business)
We also welcome Mark, from Toronto-Canada as our 14th Kiva team member.
You can follow the progress of our project on our scorecard or join in the discussions on our discussion forum
Our Kiva project #11: Maria Castillo
Maria España Ugaz Castillo[i-Maria España Ugaz Castillo]
Here is a summary of The Road's 11th social project:
Maria belongs to the "Mujeres Perseverantes" ("Persevering Women") Communal Bank, in the Calleria district, the region of Ucayali (Peru). She is 52 and has three grown children.
She has been working with the Communal Bank for 2 years and invested her first loan ($100) into the sale of cooked beans. The investment has increased her sales and she has been blessed with an ever expanding number of clients.
Today, she sells a wider variety of regional bean dishes. She gets up at 3 a.m. to cook so that her dishes will be ready for sale in the Micaela Bastidas market by 6 a.m.
With this new loan of $400, she will buy 15 kilos of beans. (See also Maria's full profile on Kiva)
This loan goes through "Manuela Ramos / CrediMUJER", the local micro financing partner of Kiva.
Loan Request: $400
Repayment terms: 4 months (Deadline Apr 15 2009)
We gave her a loan of US$50
This is The Road's 11th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.
More on The Road's social project "Change Starts Here".
You can keep track of our project via our score card. Read the full post...
Picks of the week: Microfinancing, monitoring aid and file sharing.
[i-a view at the sea]
Here are the interesting links I harvested this week:
- Third Sector is a new discovery. A UK on-line publication for everyone who needs to know what’s going on in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector.
- Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a nonprofit organization that creates and evaluates approaches to solving development problems, and disseminates information about what works and what does not to policymakers, practitioners, investors and donors around the world.
- Marginal Revolution goes under the banner "Small steps toward a much better world". It is witty, it is informative, and fun to read.
- AidWatch is a new blog keeping a critical eye on the efficiency of aid.-- Added to the list of "Aid Resources" in the side column.
- For the nerds amongst you: drop.io allows you to share any file, for free. I use it to share .pdf files.
- Wokai is a new startup microfinancing platform where you can fund entrepreneurs in China. An alternative to Kiva?
- Africa Can End Poverty is the blog of Shanta Devarajan, the Chief Economist of the Africa Region at the World Bank. Sounds very formal, but his blog is not. Recommended!!
More Picks of the Week on The Road. Read the full post...
Micro-financing, the snowball effect
african hands[i-african hands]
Our blog's social project, allocating micro-finance loans through Kiva, contributed to a success story it seems:
Up to date, Kiva allocated loans worth a total of $56,393,860 to entrepreneurs around the world.
Only this week, 3,299 businesses were funded. 14,000 lenders gave over $1,000,000 of loans. Again: in ONE week.
To date, we fundraised $3,725 on our blog and the Road's team members contributed another $585 directly.
The people we gave loans to already paid back $482, a sum I'm allocating to new micro-entrepreneurs in the developing world.
The Road's lenders team now has 11 members (Alexander in Canada was the latest to join in. - Welcome Alexander!)
The Kiva project is that big a hit that today they ran out of projects to be funded: "Currently, we are experiencing a traffic spike and all previously fundraising loans have been fully funded."
The snowball effect of doing good...
Follow the progress of The Road's Kiva project and join the project's discussion thread on our discussion forum.
The Road- Kiva project 12: Quirudis Altagracia
Quirudis Altagracia's group[i-Quirudis Altagracia's group]
Here is a summary of The Road's 12th social project:
the Quirudis Altagracia Women
in the Dominican Republic.
The leader of this group, Quirudis Altagracia, is an experienced and confident businesswoman. She owns and operates a successful grocery store located in her community, Guanuma, in Yamasa (Dominican Republic).
About a year ago, she received a loan to strengthen her business, allowing her to restock her store, adding new products which were in high demand in her neighborhood.
With profits from her business, Quirudis was able to start the concrete foundation for her house. She would like to expand her business to finish her house construction, and to support her family.
Quirudis is joined in her group by: Santa Acevedo Henrique, a high-spirited and hard-working woman who sells women's clothing; Silvestrina Mariano, who operates a fruit stand; and Yocelin Estevez and Miliota Milien, who sell clothing and underwear in the neighborhood.
The photo shows from left to right: Santa, Quirudis, Silvestrina, Yocelin and Miliota. (See also the group's full profile on Kiva)
This loan goes through "Fundación San Miguel Arcángel", the local micro financing partner of Kiva.
Loan Request: $1,525
Repayment terms: 5 months (Deadline June 15 2009)
We gave her a loan of US$50
This is The Road's 12th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.
More on The Road's social project "Change Starts Here".
You can keep track of our project via our score card. Read the full post...