Ndeye Sall

“Project Context: The group is already active in marketing various products. The loan will cover a project involving the sale of local grains and seafood products by the women, following a rotation of ten people per lending period.

Purpose of the Loan: To increase the income of the women of our group, to establish a fund for a collective vegetable garden, and to support the loan recipients in achieving their purchase and sale objectives.

Business Activities: Sale of artisan products and vegetables; food sales, and small-scale retailing of local products [such as millet, dried fish and oysters, peanuts, palm oil, etc].

Method of Payment: The tourist market is not saturated in Foundioune, which is a large town. The revolving credit practiced by our group allows for higher returns on investment because it encourages a division of credit among our members and a sharing of risks. To repay the loan, our group proposes to make monthly installments over a period of twelve months. The success of our first loan, which did not cover all our members, has allowed us to apply for a second loan to cover the remaining members of our group.”

Original French business description:

«Contexte du Projet:
Le groupement est déjà actif sur la commercialisation de produits divers.
La prêt doit couvrir un projet de vente de céréales locales et de fruits de mer à l’intention des femmes suivant une rotation de 10 personnes par période de prêt.

Objectifs du Prêt :

- augmenter les revenus des femmes membres du groupement

- disposer d’un fond de départ pour l’aménagement ultérieur d’un potager collectif

- appuyer les bénéficiaires dans la réalisation de leurs objectifs d’achat et de vente

Activités :

- vente de produits artisanaux et de légumes

- restauration et vente

- petit commerce

Mode de paiement :
Le marché du tourisme n’est pas saturé à Foundiougne qui est une grande ville. Le crédit revolving permet de mieux rentabiliser l’investissement dans la mesure où il favorise une division du crédit entre ses membres et un partage des risques. Pour la couverture du prêt, le groupement propose des versements mensuels pendant douze mois.
L’état d’avancement de notre premier prêt qui na pas pu couvrir tout le groupement nous a permis de solliciter un second prêt pour pouvoir intéresser l’ensemble des membres dudit groupement.»

Background

Senegal is one of the world’s poorest countries, yet its solid democratic tradition and highly developed associational life distinguish it from other countries in its income group. Especially remarkable are Senegal’s networks of rotating savings and credit associations, known as tontines. Commonly organized by groups of twenty to thirty housewives who live in the same village, the tontines provide poor women throughout the country with small loans to finance modest income-generating activities. Repayment rates within these associations are excellent, because they are based on local reputation and personal trust between the members. However, their financial resources are limited to the contributions of their members, frequently subsistence farmers with very little disposable income. This has prevented the traditional tontines from meeting the demand for rural microenterprise loans and restricted their impact on the economic development of their communities. The SEM Fund works to bridge this gap by linking traditional village credit associations with outside sources of finance.