Soksan Pich

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Soksan Pich by MAXIMA Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. in Cambodia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 12 - 18 months, MAXIMA Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Soksan's third loan from Maxima, in the amount of $200, is being repaid on schedule as of March, 2008.

With her loan, Soksan purchased new thread for weaving. For now, her husband has taken over the weaving business, because Soksan has had a second child, a 2 month old baby they've named Sobangnha. Their first child died just a few months after its birth, so the new baby is their only child. Soksan cares for the newborn full-time, but once it reaches 6-7 months she plans to resume her weaving. In 4-5 months time will begin to prepare another loom for herself.

The loan has been very beneficial to the family: since the local middleman stopped selling silk on credit, everyone must now have their own money to purchase their weaving materials. While last year weaving was less profitable for her, Soksan says this year business is better and she is receiving higher prices for her finished goods. She is making more money now and the incremental increase in income alone has been enough to cover the family's food expenses. Now they are able to spend their income elsewhere and are seeing their standard of living increase.

When asked about her aspirations, Soksan said she hopes to expand her house, and she jokes that she would like to turn it into a villa. As far as her child is concerned, she hopes he will be able to do whatever he desires and she will expand her business to provide accordingly for his needs.

Today we visited Soksan at her home on the rural Koh Dach island to see how her weaving business was coming along. Even though Soksan suffers from personal health problems she has had no difficulty repaying her Kiva loan and her weaving business is doing very well. We are also happy to share that she has given birth to her baby, who is now five months old, and both mother and daughter are doing well!

Because she lacked the capital to purchase her weaving material in bulk upfront at the beginning of each loom cycle, Soksan previously had to purchase her weaving materials on credit through a middleman, to whom she was forced to sell her finished product back. With her Kiva loan, she was able to purchase her materials upfront in the market at a lower price and sell back her finished silk to a reseller of her choosing, which usually meant she could fetch a higher price for her wares. The major difference she sees is the lower price of raw materials she can access when she doesn’t have to purchase through a middleman, saving at least $5 for every kaly (or two kilograms, the standard measurement in which raw silk thread is sold).

The money she saves significantly impacts the family’s financial situation. With the money she saves by purchasing her materials independently she can afford to buy medicine for herself and treat her health problems. She also looks forward to the end of the rainy season when the price of woven silk increases and she can bring home even more money to her family.

Soksan has 2 more months left on her loan term and looks forward to completing her loan cycle. She says that during her loan cycle she works even harder weaving to ensure she can make her repayments on time.

Thank you for your support of Kiva, its local field partner MAXIMA, and especially Soksan. To hear more stories about MAXIMA and microfinance in Cambodia, please visit http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/category/kiva-microfinance-partner/maxima/

Mrs. Soksan Pich has enough money to pay off her loan. She would like to say thank you to all lenders that provide her and her family a better life.