Mahanga Fanikiwa Self-help Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Mahanga Fanikiwa Self-Help Group group, consisting of Hellen Kagonya, Belita Iminza, Jesicah Ilamwenya, Jessicah Aliko, Margaret Mirenja, Rebecca Olenja, Livingstone Ombodo, Henry Mulunda, Humphrey Lukobo, Ben Etende, Reuben Ombima, Yunesi Lijoti by Opportunity International- Wedco Ltd. in Kenya. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 3 months, Opportunity International- Wedco Ltd. will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Update by Zack Turner, Kiva Fellow with OI-Wedco in Kenya:

I met with OI-Wedco’s loan officer for the Luanda area, Steve, in the branch office to get an update for Mahanga Fanikiwa Group. We were unable to visit the group due to various circumstances.

Nevertheless, Steve informed me that the group is stabilizing from the impact of the post-election violence and will be clearing their loan soon. They were delayed in the schedule of their repayments, but the group is doing well and Hellen Kagonya has been a strong leader keeping the members cohesive.

One of the reasons that we weren’t able to travel to the group is because they are in a village area that OI-Wedco’s leadership has chosen to exit from. The village is too far from the branch office to remain a client.

Recently, a policy was made that no loan officer can travel more than 15 minutes from a branch office to visit a group. This policy is intended to help keep travel costs down, which have increased dramatically due to the ever increasing price of fuel.

All of the group members were deeply affected by the violent crisis that occurred in the months after the disputed presidential election. During this period violence made business and travel extremely dangerous and economic activity halted in much of Kenya. Most were unable to conduct business in January and February. After peace was brokered the prices of goods and transportation had risen significantly, which cut into all the members potential for profits.

Special Notes:

This loan was posted mid-cycle on Kiva for extraordinary reasons. After peace and stability was restored, Opportunity International-Wedco chose to reschedule the loans of groups impacted by the post-election crisis. Kiva offered to help by posting the groups that were rescheduled, thus this extended update.

A self-help group is a legal community of people that band together to provide collateral. In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a 'group guarantee'. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another and is responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults. For the Kiva posting, we select one member to represent the group with their story and business.

For more regarding the post-election crisis please start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%932008_Kenyan_crisis