31-nam Ngạn Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to 31-Nam Ngạn Group, consisting of Mai Hàn Thị, Dậu Nguyễn Thị , Thuỷ Ngô Thanh , Phương Nguyễn thị, Kim Phạm Thị, Nguyệt Trần Thị, Thuỷ Nguyễn Thị by Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women (TCVM), a partner of Save the Children in Viet Nam. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 5 months of this loan, Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women (TCVM), a partner of Save the Children will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Dear Lender,

Thank you for supporting the Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women!

The Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women (FPW) is a relatively new partner to the Kiva platform, having posted its first loan in November 2008. Since then, FPW staff have worked diligently to integrate Kiva into their operations and we are happy to announce that FPW has recently been approved for active field partner status on Kiva! Expect to see an increase in FPW activity on Kiva.org over the next few months.

Since February 2009, I have been serving in Thanh Hoa as a Kiva Fellow, assisting FPW through this process. Now that I’m at the end of my fellowship, I would like to share a simple revelation. What I have discovered through meeting and speaking with the borrowers here is that although the current financial crisis may suggest otherwise, finance, and in this case microfinance, in Thanh Hoa, is not always that dramatic. I am not leaving here as expected, with hallmark stories of adversities conquered, but I have met real women and seen how these simple, elegant loans return to them a small but significant power.

The need and impact of micro loans is known to differ from borrower to borrower. FPW’s clients represent women with differing circumstances and vary in the degree to which their loans have impacted their life. This microfinance mosaic of users, uses and value is well represented by the women from Group 41 Quang Hung, one of the first groups that I visited in Thanh Hoa.

Ms. Vũ Thị Kim Chung is the leader of Group 41 Quang Hung Commune and represents one end of the spectrum. Ms. Chung, like most Vietnamese women, engages in multiple income producing activities. She is primarily a worker in Le Mon Industrial Zone, working 18-20 days a month, transporting fertilizer on and off train cars and earning a relatively high income of ~1.800.000 VND ($103 USD) per month. The work is hard and she sounds like someone who understands the weight of world finances when she states plainly that “it’s a job” and she’s grateful for it. Although her family could survive without any additional income, Ms. Chung still chose to take out a loan and increase her workload voluntarily to, on a good day, earn an additional ~60.000 VND ($3.50 USD) by selling fruit and raising animals.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have Ms. Hương Nguyễn Thị. Ms. Hương lives in the same commune as Ms. Chung but her economic position is quite different. Ordinarily, she works in her family’s woodworking shop and raises animals for resale. Together, the family is able to generate sufficient income. This past year, however, her family has faced extraordinary circumstances, with her eldest son (aged 4) falling ill with an ocular condition in April 2008. The family traveled to Hanoi for treatment, only to find that their son was too young to have the surgery. Although her son’s base medical expenses were covered by the government, the costs of transportation, accommodation and food were left to the family. Her previous loans from FPW and this most recent loan from Kiva have helped her and her family manage these sudden expenses.

Reflecting on the two loans above, Ms. Hương’s story is more akin to those you read in Muhammad Yunus’s books, but Ms. Chung’s story is the norm here at FPW. The loan has not saved her from starvation, homelessness or illness, but has simply given her the option to earn a little more. Though a seemingly small return on her investment, it represents her hard work and most importantly, access to the resources and right to earn it.

Thank you again for providing the capital to lend to women in Thanh Hoa! Please consider lending to one of the currently fundraising loans from FPW.

Xin Chao! My name is Hanh Tran and I am a Kiva Fellow, based in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. I had my first borrower visit with 31 - Nam Ngan Group. They graciously welcomed me to their meeting and were excited to tell me about their businesses.

Ms. Mai Hàn Thị is the group leader for this group of 7 borrowers. She used her loan to expand her Pho shop with the purchase of chairs and tables. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup, often eaten in the morning for breakfast. This is Ms. Mai’s second loan with FPW. Her initial startup costs for the Pho restaurant was 2,000,000 VND ($112 USD). Nowadays, Ms. Mai makes a profit of about 1,500,000 VND ($84 USD) every month. She expressed her thanks to the lenders who have made this possible. Please view the video in this update or visit this link this link to hear Ms. Mai talk about her business.

I was also fortunate to have a chat with several of the women in Ms. Mai’s group.

Ms. Dậu is using her loan to purchase ingredients for her shop where she sells an assortment of breakfast foods.

One of the group’s youngest members, Ms. Thuy, has used her loan to purchase clothing for resale at the market. She reports that she is able to sell 5 pieces of clothing on a good day, for a profit of 35,000 VND ($1.90 USD) per day. She also takes in accounting work in her spare time. She expressed a hope to one day have a full-time job as an accountant.

Ms. Phuong runs a Pho shop with her husband near their home. She reports that business is good and the loan was spent to purchase supplies for the store. Ms. Phuong’s adult–aged children are also entrepreneurs who run a bridal gown rental shop in town.

Ms. Kim was unable to attend the meeting. The other group members told me that Ms. Kim has made all her repayments on time and has successfully used her loan money to expand her general store, where she sells assorted treats and mobile SIM cards.

Ms. Nguyệt was unable to attend the meeting, but has made all her payments on time. She sells vegetables at the market and used her loan to purchase chickens.

Ms. Thuỷ also used her loan money to purchase chickens. The chickens cost 15,000 VND ($0.84 USD) each. After 5 more months, she will be able to sell them at the market. She also sells vegetables at the market. Her vegetable sales bring in 800,000 VND ($44 USD) each month.

Thank you for your continued support of entrepreneurs in Vietnam! Please consider joining the Vietnam Critical Mass Lending Team