Microloan Mercy – Bennett - Edna 984184 - Milestone 3.0

A loan of $225 helped to buy feeds and other supplies to raise her pig.

The Mercy Foundation funded a microloan to Edna, an animal farmer in the Philippines.

Edna's story

Edna is 51 years old and has two children. Edna is married and has one child still in school. She is in the agricultural business, pig fattening in the Philippines. Edna requested a PHP 10,000 loan through NWTF to buy feed and other supplies to raise her pig.

Edna has been in this business for 15 years now, and has borrowed three times in the past from NWTF to sustain it. In the future, Edna would like to save money to expand her business. Small microloans can be a tremendous help to Edna’s business.

The Mercy Foundation does not charge interest on microloans such as the one Edna sought out. These microloans are given purely for humanitarian, and not business purposes. However, the local field partner may charge interest on the loan. This is to help ensure that they can remain economically feasible.

Microloan Partner

The local field partner for this microloan is the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF). The Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc. (NWTF) is a non-governmental organization established with an aim to help men and women achieve self-sufficiency, particularly in the province of Negros Occidental’s low-income communities. The organization offers its clients a wide variety of products, including loans for micro-entrepreneurs, hospital income benefits, life insurance, accidental death benefits and more. Kiva lenders’ funds will be used to expand the reach of these products to low-income urban and rural communities.

The Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation does great work, and genuinely helps people who need it in the Philippines. The Mercy Foundation was successfully able to fund this microloan to Edna with the help of the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation. Now Edna’s business is one step closer to financial self-sufficiency.

However, despite the fact that this microloan has been funded, there are still tens of thousands of entrepreneurs around the world who need access to capital to grow their businesses. Many of these entrepreneurs live in underserved places and capital is very difficult to come by. Luckily, Kiva makes it easy to provide microloans to entrepreneurs in need. So, if you would like to help a person who needs access to capital grow his or her business, please feel free to visit Kiva.org today.

Notes 1. This article is based on https://www.kiva.org/lend/984184.

A loan of $325 helped to buy more fish for resale.

The Mercy Foundation helped fund a microloan to Mischel, a fish vendor in the Philippines.

Here is Mischel’s Story

In the heart of the Plaridel municipality in the Philippines, Mischel runs a business selling fish. Her business has been doing well, and with her husband’s help, she has been able to maximize her profits and provide or her family. She has even been able to increase the amount of time that she invests in her business, ensuring that she and her family are able to thrive.

However, her business does not only benefit her and her family. In the past, she has helped many of the people around her set up their own retail businesses, as she allows them to sell their fish to help increase their income. She recently approached the PMPC for another loan, which she would use to help her buy more fish and build her business.

Microloan Partners Her loan is being administered locally by Paglaum Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PMPC), a non-governmental organization that was created to help the society become self-reliant. It makes it possible for people to expand their opportunities so that the poorest of the poor can help themselves. They operate in two northwestern provinces of the Philippines, Mindanao and Visayas.

The Mercy Foundation, with the help of Kiva and PMPC, fully funded the loan that Mischel was awarded. The partnership between these two organizations and the foundation is helping to change the lives of hundreds of people, giving them the means to lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty that surrounds them.

One of the main reasons that these partnerships work so well is because all the organizations share the same goal; to provide people with means of gaining capital with access to microfinance services. The partnership works so well because Kiva brings social entrepreneurs together, while PMPC identifies locals who are in need of funding. The Mercy Foundation then complete the circle, by providing loans to those that need them the most.

Mischel’s loan of $325 was fully funded by The Mercy Foundation. If you would also like to make a mark in someone’s life, or indeed in a community’s life, then you should visit Kiva.org and have a look at the thousands of loans that desperately need funding. By funding a microloan, you will be changing the lives of not just the recipients, but of the whole community as well.

Notes 1.  
This article is based on https://www.kiva.org/lend/997969

A loan of $425 helped a member to buy a larger selection of cassava and plantains.

The Mercy Foundation funded a microloan to Hanna, an entrepreneur in Ghana.

Here is Obrah Group’s Story

 
 Hanna, a young mother of four from Accra, Ghana, has been running a business buying and selling cassava and plantains for several years. Her husband also has his own business as a trader, and together, their income helps to support their family. Hanna has enjoyed a steady income for a while, but recently she decided to expand her business.
To this end, Hanna approached ID Ghana and applied for a loan to help her achieve her goals. The money that she received from the loan helped her to buy a larger selection of cassava and plantains, which she is now using to expand her business and therefore increase her income. As the leader of the Obrah group, a group that she started with an equally hard-working friend called Mercy, she successfully completed paying her loan.

Microfinance Partners
Locally, her loan was administered by ID Ghana, a microfinance organization that supplies both social and economic assistance to the underserved urban communities in Ghana. Ghana has an average annual income of just $3,500, which makes it virtually impossible for many people to support themselves and fund the ideas that will help them get out of their cycle of poverty.
Kiva and ID Ghana helped the Mercy Foundation to fully fund the loan that the Obrah Group successfully applied for. These three organizations are helping to change the lives of thousands of people by giving them the tools that they need to dig themselves out of the poverty that surrounds them.

This is because Kiva and ID Ghana are dedicated to providing microfinance services to the people who need them the most, especially those who do not have any other avenue to gain the capital that they need to implement their projects.

Obrah Group’s loan of $425 was fully funded by the Mercy Foundation, and now the group has a chance to elevate their business and increase their income. If you would also like to transform someone’s life by funding a microloan, make sure you visit Kiva.org, and browse through the numerous loans that desperately need funding. By helping an underprivileged entrepreneur, you will not only be changing someone’s life, you will be transforming the lives of many.

Notes
1.    This article is based on https://www.kiva.org/lend/992977

The natural link between microfinance and environmental sustainability

Image source: somalibusinessnews.com

Microfinance loans are known to aid people in poverty by providing them access to funds as starting capital for modest businesses with sustainable income potential. Aside from this, microfinance has also shown impressive compatibility with environmental sustainability.

By itself, microfinance can already promote environmental preservation, albeit indirectly. Over the last thirty years, as impoverished people are given the chance to earn legitimately and sustainably, they are discouraged from laying waste to surrounding natural resources in an effort to find food and shelter.

Currently, “green microfinance” has is generating interest, especially with regard to its role in directly addressing the goals of financial and environmental sustainability.

Thus, microenterprises that produce eco-friendly products such as organic fertilizers and biomass charcoal briquettes, among others, and use environmentally sound business practices that protect the health of the communities and preserve nature, have become the priority beneficiaries of microfinance loans.

Image source: cdn4.zipmatch.com

Renewable energy entrepreneurship is also seeing a boost from microfinance loans. With homes and businesses using sources of energy that contribute substantially to greenhouse gas emissions and ecosystem degradation, microfinance has set up businesses that distribute solar-powered equipment, housing insulation, and other green initiatives. Some microfinance groups have also offered incentives to clients that leverage renewable energy systems.

As environmental preservation is becoming a major talking point in the global development agenda, microfinance has become a viable solution for national governments and social and environmental investors in enjoining those living in poverty in the drive towards sustainability.

Mercy Foundation has been at the forefront of poverty reduction efforts by aiding families through microfinance. They accept donations in the form of underutilized real estate assets to fund the loans they grant to those in need. Follow this Twitter page for more discussion about microfinance and real estate.