Mapato Self-help Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Mapato Self-Help Group group, consisting of Alex Okello, Beatrice Nambu, Lidia Nafuna, Hellen Nangila, Everlyne Anyango, Joseph Bukhebi, John Tivito, Castrol Davidah, James Simiyu Wekesa, Newton Walubengo, Vincent Silvanus, Jared Obare, Harun Kwaleve, Mark Wanjala by Opportunity International- Wedco Ltd. in Kenya. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 4 months, Opportunity International- Wedco Ltd. will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Update by Zack Turner, Kiva Fellow with OI-Wedco in Kenya:

I met with Rajeb after his weekly group meeting. He took me to his carpentry workshop along the crowded main road in Bungoma town. His intial update was that his name is now legally changed from Alex Okello to Rajeb Oduro. Although he took the name years ago when he converted to Islam years ago, the legal and bureaucratic process in Kenya prevented him from being able to use it in official business contracts like with his group loan at OI-Wedco. He is pleased to have his name sorted out after patiently.

Business has been getting better since peace was established from the grand coalition government after the post-election crisis. At his carpentry workshop he showed me some of his products, which include sofa sets, baby cots (cradles), and cabinets among other things. Recently, he has received an order of desks for a local school. With his loan he expanded his business stock by purchasing more wood, cloth material for sofas, and the padding for chairs. Through this additional stock his business was able to sustain itself through and after the crisis.

According to Rajeb, after the presidential election in late December “business halted” for a couple months. People were afraid to come to town and most only spent money on necessities during the crisis. Thankfully, business has been picking up slowly through the summer, which enabled him and his group to clear their loan recently, despite the rise in prices for goods and transportation.

When the conversation shifted to his group, Rajeb shared with me that the name Mapato, loosely translates to income. For all members of Mapato their small businesses and loans are their livelihood. Several in his group were directly affected by the post election crisis. One member’s business was burnt down by a mob, so he moved away with his family to his hometown and has not returned. The group together paid off his portion of the loan. Rajeb believes that he hasn’t come back because he is still afraid and doesn’t have anything to return to.

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Special Notes:

This loan was posted mid-cycle on Kiva for extraordinary reasons. After peace and stability was restored, Opportunity International-Wedco chose to reschedule the loans of groups impacted by the post-election crisis. Kiva offered to help by posting the groups that were rescheduled, thus this extended update.

Rajeb did not have food production/sales business as per his business description. He has owned this wedding hall for more than ten years. Often entrepreneurs in the developing world diversify with multiple small enterprises, thus is the fluid nature of micro-business in Kenya and leads to occasional misinformation posted to Kiva. We apologize for the error.

For a summary of the post-election crisis start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%932008_Kenyan_crisis