Sanoat Nizomova

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Sanoat Nizomova by MLF MicroInvest-Tajikistan in Tajikistan. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 12 months, MLF MicroInvest-Tajikistan will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

When I visit Sanoat at the main bazaar in the town of Buston, the first thing she tells me is how thankful she is for the assistance she has receiving from both Kiva and MicroInvest. “I don’t have the words to express my thanks. The people at MicroInvest have been very kind to me.” When she first started her business Sanoat sold only blankets and mattresses but has now expanded into selling cloth and other items, and the value of her stock has increased fourfold, from $500 to $2000. Once a week she goes to the cities of Khujand and Istaravshan to buy her goods and spends around $600 each time. She has four children who are all married and her husband works at an oil factory. She says that it is a mother’s duty consists of three things: weddings, circumcisions, and building a home, and she has therefore used much of her income to pay for these essentials.

Sanoat was one of the first MicroInvest clients in the Mastchoh region and, when I stopped by her store this week, it was clear she had a very good relationship with her credit officer. She showed off her winter inventory which she buys in Istaravshan and Khujand and says she brings back what she knows her customers like. Before opening her business, Sanoat was a teacher of Tajik literature and language but, like most in the profession, she gave up the career after the fall of the Soviet Union when salaries collapsed. In Tajikistan it’s often more profitable to trade goods than it is to pursue a professional career. She said MicroInvest and Kiva have been very helpful to her business and she’s very grateful for her loan.

Thank you for supporting an entrepreneur in Tajikistan.

I'm excited to be writing you as the Kiva Fellow in northern Tajikistan. For the last few months, I have been working with Kiva's Field Partner, MLF MicroInvest visiting many Kiva entrepreneurs.

As you may know, all entrepreneur profiles on Kiva's website are posted by local Field Partners (microfinance institutions) like MicroInvest, which are organizations which lend to those without easy access to credit for purposes of sustaining or growing their businesses. In my time here I have had the opportunity to get to know MicroInvest's staff and its clients. Its ultimate mission is to enable its borrowers to achieve self-sufficiency through the development of their businesses.

But from what I have seen in my time here, MicroInvest's work isn't just about issuing loans. They also create a long-lasting, collaborative relationship with each client to address their financial needs and improve the household's standard of living.

One such relationship is with Oishahon who sells vegetables and herbs in the Isfara market. I met with her recently and she talked at length about her business. For the season she is stocking garlic, fennel, various teas, and hot peppers. The winter is a fairly slow time for green grocers and most of her business comes during the spring months.

We spent some time talking about her past career as a teacher of Tajik literature. She, like many others here, spoke fondly of Rudaki who was a poet in ancient Persia some 1,000 years ago. She also discussed her past career as a teacher of Tajik literature. She abandoned her teaching career back in 1991 when Tajikistan became independent from the USSR and salaries fell significantly. There are many other former teachers, doctors or factory workers here who have moved on to a business of their own as a means of sustaining themselves.

With customers hovering around her stand, I excused myself so she could conduct her business. She expressed her thanks to Kiva lenders and says her loan has allowed her to sustain her business through the lean winter months.

With over $1.3 million in loans to Kiva clients, MicroInvest serves many others like Oishahon throughout the country. From Kiva, MicroInvest and its borrowers, we thank you for supporting our work. To see support additional borrowers, please check:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&partner_id=101&status=fundRaising&sortBy=New+to+Old&_te=mj