Ann Lim

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Ann Lim by MAXIMA Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. in Cambodia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 12 months, MAXIMA Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Today we met with Ms. Lim in her home in Kean Svay district outside of the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Ms. Lim was busy running her looms for her scarf-making business but was kind of enough to take a few minutes to provide us with an update on the progress of her loan and the impact it has had on her and her family.

Ms. Lim had recently taken out a $1000 loan with Kiva and its field partner, MAXIMA to purchase new types of thread to make her traditional scarves, or kroma, as they are called in Cambodia. She was able to purchase different kinds and a larger amount of the threads and has therefore increased her business’ overall output. This is extremely positive, especially because elections for the National Assembly of Cambodia are coming up in July and, as Ms. Lim explains, candidates often purchase kroma in bulk to give to potential supporters. Ms. Lim’s business expects to profit significantly from the increased demand of kroma in the coming weeks. Without her loan from Kiva, Ms. Lim would not have been able to respond to this demand and thus not profited from this upcoming opportunity. She would have also had difficulty, she explains, feeding her family, as the price of food in Cambodia has soared in the previous months. With the profits she enjoys from her expanded business, Ms. Lim has been able to manage comfortably in this uncertain time.

After election season, Ms. Lim says she would like to continue to work to expand her business. She hopes some day she can afford to sell the looms she owns and use the money to support her family. She would prefer to have more time to with her daughter and be able to devote herself fully to tending to household jobs such as cooking. One day, she says, she hopes to have enough money to send her young daughter to pursue a university degree.

Below: Ann at her loom