Sem Phan

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Sem Phan by CREDIT MFI -- World Relief in Cambodia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 12 - 15 months, CREDIT MFI -- World Relief will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

We met Mrs. Sem Phan in her home down a brick-strewn dirt street on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. She was at home cooking lunch with her 81 year-old mother and her four grandsons. She proudly told us that she has 10 children and 17 grandchildren. We sat down on a raised wooden bed and she explained that her oldest son had helped her run the recycling business for which she borrowed the Kiva loan to expand. After receiving the loan, he decided that the recycling business was too competitive and margins were too small to invest further.

Instead, this son used the Kiva loan to purchase construction tools to start a construction contractor business. He now earns $5 per day. Three of her other sons also sons work with the oldest son in construction together in Phnom Penh. The other six of her children live together in Kampong Thom province. One son there works in construction and the other five children raise pigs.

The four grandsons who were at her house when we visited are the children of the oldest son who formerly ran the recycling business. They live with their grandmother now, and he son sends part of his income to his mother to support care of them. His income also pays off the Kiva loan, and they have had no problem paying back the loan on time. They find the 2.5% per month interest rate that CREDIT MFI charges very affordable and less expensive than any other source of capital.

She explained in detail how expensive utilities are in an unofficial neighborhood such as hers where the government has not installed public utilities. She pays $0.75 per kilowatt of electricity and uses about 16kw per month. Because she has to purchase electricity from a local seller who has strung up his own lines in her neighborhood, she pays much more than the $0.08 per kilowatt charged for electricity provided by the government to the residents of Phnom Penh. Though her home is plumbed-in, her water comes from a neighbor’s well. She must pay about $0.90 per cubic meter for water and uses about 10 cubic meters per month. Though these utilities are a huge cost for her and her family, the government plans to bring public utilities to their neighborhood in the next three months. This will free up income for other uses, such as paying for her grandchild’s education. Their lives are hard, but by increasing their income with small loans from Kiva and reducing their expenses, their standard of living will gradually improve.

Correction: The picture shown on the loan profile is incorrect. Mrs. Sem Phan is actually pictured between her mother and grandson in this photo. The photo on the right is of her house.

- Jordyan Edmiston, Kiva Fellow, Cambodia