Sophany Keo's Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Sophany Keo group, consisting of Sophany Keo, Soeurn Tes, Cheal Yi, Savry Hieng, Bunthoeun Sin by Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), a partner of Save the Children in Cambodia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 10 months, Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), a partner of Save the Children will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

I recently went to visit group loan leader Sophany Keo and was lucky that two other members of the group where at her home as

well. Here is the update on Sohpanhy Keo, Soeun Tes and Cheal Yi.

Sophany Keo used her loan to purchase more ingredients and other supplies she needed for her business selling traditional Khmer cakes. The investment has worked very well and she is now making about $5 a day, much more than before.

This is a new business for her and she has been doing it for just over a year now. Before this she sold groceries out of a small stand. I asked her if she was happy that she made the switch and she said that she is very happy and enjoys the cooking every night.

Here husband is doing well and is currently making about $3 a day. He has held this job for about 10 years, before which he was a moto taxi driver.

Her three sons are all doing well, one is still in school and the others are also working construction and earn between $3 and $5 a day.

She said that they heard about Kiva’s partner HKL through a radio add that was played on a local station. She told me that she has had no problems repaying her loan and that she will consider taking a new loan in the future.

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Soeun Tes is also doing well with her loan. She sells shaved sweet ice at a local stand and makes 10,000 riel a day ($2.50).

She used her loan to purchase materials to create a game for local celebrations. The game allows players to throw sharp sticks at balloons for a chance to win a prize, which consists of small toys for children and beer and other drinks for adults. She says she was able to make $125 a night five times with the supplies she purchased with the loan. This provided her with plenty of income to repay the loan and she has had no problems.

She is now able to fund the game on her own and uses it to make extra income during times of celebration.

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Cheal Yi has a very similar business as Sophany Keo but she

makes about $7 a day. She used her loan to purchase a push cart so that she can now sell much more and move around more easily than when she was carrying everything on her shoulders.

Cheal has had no problems repaying the loan and is very happy with her new cart!!!

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In the attached video I ask the women what their hopes and dreams for the future are and they talk about the pros and cons of taking out loans (in Khmer).

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A Kiva Fellow working with Kiva’s field partner HKL in Cambodia posted this journal.

About HKL:

Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) is one of Cambodia's largest and most successful microfinance institutions (MFIs), providing microfinance services to poor people, particularly women, in urban and rural areas. Its mission is to improve income in agricultural, commercial and manufacturing enterprises throughout Cambodia, by providing loans at reasonable interest rates and encouraging savings. HKL specifically targets women and poor families in order to help them achieve increased financial security and quality of life.

Join HKL’s lending team Here

If you would like to read more about what it is like to be a Kiva Fellow check out our blog Here

Thank you for supporting a Kiva entrepreneur in Cambodia. My name is Drew Loizeaux, and I have been serving as a Kiva Fellow with one of Kiva’s partners in Cambodia, Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), for the last three months. Working alongside the fantastic staff here, and meeting many of the clients that your loans have funded, has been a tremendously inspiring experience. Without you, the Kiva lenders, none of this would be possible.

Working at HKL with everyone from management to field staff, I have seen first hand the dedication to fostering these relationships. HKL staff serve their clients with an amazing amount of respect and understanding that, in turn, creates a great level of trust between both parties. The Kiva model flourishes with this trust, because many important details of the lives and businesses of the entrepreneurs that would otherwise be missed are passed on to the lenders.

Before I became a Kiva Fellow, my favorite part of the lending process was receiving updates on the Kiva entrepreneurs who I had lent to. It was like a small window into their lives, and it made me feel like I was able to make the world better in some small but tangible way. As a Kiva Fellow, visiting with clients and finding out about the borrowers’ progress is still my favorite part of working with Kiva.

Many of you have received updates on HKL loans, but I know many others have not. We have been working extremely hard to get as many journals as possible written, but with current staffing and the number of HKL loans on Kiva, we have been focusing on the loans that are ending soon. In the next year, we anticipate that you will receive individual updates on a large majority of your loans. In the meantime, I would like to share the videos and journals for three of my favorite meetings with Kiva Entrepreneurs during my time here. I hope you enjoy them!

Soch Han and her family make bricks from the earth on their property. When I went to visit with them, they were removing the bricks from the oven. This activity made a very interesting video, which you can watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofLQtOnADko&_te=mj. Read the entire journal of our visit on her business profile page here: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=46326&_te=mj

Rom Chhoeuy sells fish and traditional fish paste at a local market. When I visited with her, I asked her what her hopes and dreams are for the future. When her kids realized that they were being videotaped, they were very excited about it and spent the whole time waving at me. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN-DBP1CLls&_te=mj. Read the whole journal on her business profile page here: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=53965&_te=mj

Khean Tol has many business endeavors, including farming, raising pigs, making baskets, and making rice wine. When I went to visit her, she was in the middle of making a set of baskets and was kind enough so show me how she makes them. You can watch video of this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNDJQrkc7UA&_te=mj. Read the whole journal on her business profile page here: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=47715&_te=mj.

On behalf of Kiva and everyone here at HKL, thanks again for your loan and continued support of entrepreneurs in Cambodia.

Sincerely,

Drew Loizeaux,

Kiva Fellow with HKL

Phnom Penh, Cambodia