Abdou Ba

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Abdou BA by UIMCEC, a partner of Christian Children's Fund in Senegal. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 12 months of this loan, UIMCEC, a partner of Christian Children's Fund will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Hi Kiva lenders!

You are receiving this journal update to thank you for the Kiva loan you made to a client of IMCEC, a partner MFI in Senegal, West Africa.

IMCEC (also known as "UIMCEC") is working on putting in place an efficient, well-oiled system for sending journal updates. However, for the moment, they're a bit behind schedule! Please accept the video below in lieu of your regularly scheduled journal update. I hope that, through this video, you will feel a stronger connection to IMCEC and its clients. As you will see, there is lots of energy and life that goes into running an MFI, and IMCEC and its borrowers are grateful for the support of Kiva and lenders like you.

Enjoy the video, and thank you for your continued support of Kiva and IMCEC!

Best regards,

Abby Gray

Kiva Fellow in Senegal

Mr. Ba is one of four tailors on this busy side street of Thies, though, according to Mr. Ba, he is the only one certified by the government as a professional tailor. He has received two loans financed by Kiva. With the first, he made a capital investment – purchasing a sewing machine. He finished paying this loan in May of 2009. With the second loan, he had hoped to receive a significantly bigger loan to travel abroad to an international artisan expo to promote his designs, but he did not receive the amount necessary to cover his travel expenses. Instead, he invested in his inventory – buying new fabrics and thread.

He has not had problems paying back the loan despite having clients who often can only pay two or three months later. With the increased revenue, he has been able to better meet the daily needs of his family, including covering school fees for his children.

He is hoping to find a way to begin exporting his creations, to both Senegalese migrants and toubabs (i.e. Europeans) - perhaps someone you know will be sporting his designs soon!