Kiva Loans

Chance Group : The Democratic Republic of the Congo

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:10:02 PDT

$3,500 of $4,100 raised.

Started raising funds on May 16, 2012

Nabashali, the leader of the Chance business group, is a dynamic entrepreneur who is 38 years old and the mother of 8 young children. She sells plastic shoes known as “bodaboda”. Her husband is a public administration official at the town hall in Goma. Nabashali sells her products at a market. She started her business with her own money when she sold an item of jewellery for $250. For six years now she has been running small business activities of this type. This is her seventh loan cycle with Hekima. This new loan will be used to purchase 24 dozen pairs of bodaboda to sell. In addition, she would like to buy a second house and see her children grow up in comfort. Nabashali would like to thank Hekima for the work it does towards the economic and financial emancipation of poor women. It should be noted that in the photo certain members are carrying their babies.

Zeid : Iraq

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:20:03 PDT

$1,575 of $3,000 raised.

Started raising funds on May 14, 2012

This borrower is from Iraq. He is a young client, aged 25 years old, and married. Zeid has owned a shop where he repairs and sells electrical generators since 2006. He has more than five years experience in this field. He has a good reputation and he is becoming well known in the surrounding areas. He applied for a $3000 “Youth Loan” in order to renovate his shop and install an outdoor ceiling. He is aiming to gain more profits to offer him the opportunity to provide a better life for his family as a whole.

Chan : Cambodia

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:50:02 PDT

$825 of $1,000 raised.

Started raising funds on May 15, 2012

Chan, 31, is married and resides with her husband and four children in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. She has been employed as a chef for more than six years, earning approximately USD 3 per day. Her husband is a construction foreman who earns about USD 7 per day. All of her children are still in her care and in school. Due to the difficulty with the family’s transportation, Chan is requesting a loan of USD 1,000 to purchase a motorbike for commuting. This purchase would enable her to use the saved money on her transportation expenses to support the family. In the future, she needs more capital to expand her husband’s business and help her children get Bachelor’s degrees. Moreover, she plans to build a new house as soon as possible.

Roza : Kyrgyzstan

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:10:13 PDT

$1,450 of $2,900 raised.

Started raising funds on May 15, 2012

Roza is 59 years old. She is a widow and has two children. For the past twenty years, she has been involved in farming and animal husbandry, a business she got into with an initial amount of 10,000 som (KGS). Thanks to her hard work, her business now comprises two dairy cows and seven sheep, and she makes 3,500 som per month selling milk and dairy products. In order to further develop her business, Roza has turned to Bai Tushum & Partners for a loan of 135,000 (KGS) which will be used to purchase young bulls to be fattened up and resold. Roza plans to invest the earnings from her loan into further expanding her livestock business.

Dukore I Group : Burundi

Thu, 03 May 2012 01:40:03 PDT

$3,025 of $3,275 raised.

Started raising funds on May 3, 2012

Jean is a member of the "Dukore I" group and lives in Gitega. He is 34 years old and is married to Nadine, a farmer. The couple have 3 children together, one of whom is in the 3rd year of primary school. Jean has run a store selling food products (rice, beans, Fanta, etc.) for 15 years. This is his 17th loan with Turame. The Kiva-sponsored loan he obtains will increase his capital and he will buy other commercial products to resell in his store, so that he can earn more money. In the years ahead, he hopes to make large profits which will enable him to build a house in town.

Ganhuyag : Mongolia

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:00:11 PDT

$2,575 of $2,700 raised.

Started raising funds on Apr 16, 2012

Ganhuyag is a 46-year-old man who lives with his wife and two children in Arhangai province in Central Mongolia. He started his shoe repairing business in 2006 with his wife. They both have been running the business successfully. The local people have already found their business reliable and good quality. They run the business inside their fence and they plan to expand the business activity by building a new workplace and buying some necessary modern equipment. Ganhuyag is a hardworking man who says that "I would like to expand the business activity by having a new workplace for the shoe repairs and the equipment and machineries". The total amount he is requesting is 3,500,000 MNT to build the workplace and buy the shoe repairing equipment.

Hilda Antonieta : Ecuador

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:40:03 PDT

$525 of $1,100 raised.

Started raising funds on May 16, 2012

The communal bank "Damas del Futuro" meets every 15 days in the Pajan Canton, which is known for its livestock farming. One of the attractions is the Montubio Rodeo organized throughout the year. This is where we met Mrs. Hilda, 39, who is married and has three children, ages 15, 12 and 6. The two elder children are in junior high school and the youngest in grade school. Her husband works for the State as a contractor. In an effort to earn a little of her own income to help cover household expenses, our friend has a food business and delivers lunches to several public places and institutions Monday through Friday. Her children who are the ones who distribute the lunches that she cooks and prepares. She has been in business for four years and it is going very well after gradually increased her customer base because of her delicious, varied cooking. This loan will be used to buy rice, meat, fish and other groceries to prepare the meals. She has been in the communal bank for eight years and is the acting secretary of the group. She likes receiving assistance from the institution. Her goals are to get ahead in her business and give her children a good education.

Josué : Mexico

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:40:03 PDT

$475 of $525 raised.

Started raising funds on May 16, 2012

Josué lives on a small farm with his wife and son, and the animal waste from his cows and horses will be treated by his Sistema Biobolsa biodigester to produce renewable energy and organic fertilizer. The energy-rich biogas will be used in the kitchen for cooking and heating bathwater, nearly eliminating their LP gas usage. The organic fertilizer will be used in his orchard where he grows apples, plums, and a local fruit called tejocote often used to make punch. He also grows nopal cactus year-round. Josué is excited by this investment because the organic fertilizer his system will produce will allow him to grow food for the first time in his life without chemical fertilizer, saving him at least 10,000 pesos a year on fertilizer alone.

Mwaminifu Group : Tanzania

Sat, 05 May 2012 01:00:05 PDT

$2,500 of $5,725 raised.

Started raising funds on May 5, 2012

Mwajuma, who is in her mid 30s, is married with five children who are still going to school. She has been running a genge-duka (retail and fruits and vegetables in the same shop) business for eight years now. She works from 6.00 am to 8.00pm daily and is able to make a fair monthly profit. This will be her 4th loan fro Tujijenge Tanzania. She used the previous loans to increase on the missing items in the genge-duka, started selling charcoal, paid household expenses and has paid back all her loans successfully. She wants a loan to buy more items for the genge-duka and more sacks of charcoal to resell. Her dream is to one day be able to own a Tigo Pesa (mobile phone and finance) business. She will share this loan with her loan group "Mwaminifu" which has a total of 13 members who will hold each other accountable for paying back their loans.

Twongerumusaruro No 29/rsz / Rsz Group : Rwanda

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:40:15 PDT

$2,825 of $3,625 raised.

Started raising funds on Apr 26, 2012

Marcel is a member of the group Twoneremusaruro No 29/Rsz. He is 44 years old, married, and has 8 children, whose ages range between 2 and 20 years. Six of his children attend school. Besides his children, he has four other persons in his care. Marcel's education level is six years of elementary school. Marcel is a rice farmer. This is his third loan cycle with ACB. He will use his loan to buy chemical fertilizers and pay for labor. In order to expand his business, his strategy is to increase the requested loan amount to finance his farming activity. In the coming years, Marcel would like to be an important rice producer in his region. With the profits, he is planning to pay his children's school fees.

Sameh : Palestine

Wed, 09 May 2012 21:20:03 PDT

$900 of $3,000 raised.

Started raising funds on May 9, 2012

Sameh is a 26-year-old single man. For the past four years, he has operated a cafe where he provides his customers with soft drinks and hot drinks, snacks and sandwiches. His cafe is characterized by its location which is near a local university where there is good movement all day. The cafe has been a profitable project for Sameh but he also needs more support to cover the costs. Sameh wants to improve the condition of the cafe's internal yard so it can become part of the cafe. The purpose is to expand the space especially as the number of customers increase in the summer season. Sameh is therefore requesting a 3,000 USD youth loan from FATEN to help him cover the costs of purchasing new external umbrellas, chairs and tables, and new serving equipment. This will expand the cafe and improve its conditions, which will lead to satisfied customers and help to increase sales and improve Sameh's income. Sameh is photographed inside the cafe.

Lucero Group : Peru

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:12 PDT

$1,900 of $3,100 raised.

Started raising funds on May 15, 2012

A group of friends and neighbors formed the community banking group “Lucero” in the district of Cusco. This community bank was created by nine people who are all looking at every turn for opportunities to get ahead and with their daily strength to bring about a better future for their children. The economic ventures of the group members are, for example, fertilizer sales, sales of craft items, sales of wooden furniture, candy sales, food sales, sales of cosmetics, and others offer their professional services as a nurse, a teacher, and an electrician. (Ines is the group member is raising her hand in the photo.) Ines was born in the city of Lima but currently resides in the beautiful city of Cusco. She is married, and the fruits of this beautiful union have been two children. Her principle commercial activity is the administration of a small business selling the arts made by her partner. Her spouse is an artist and creates paintings of Cusco like passages, children, young women, vistas of Cusco's city streets, and more images, as his imagination permits. It's been years now since they began this work together, and it has gone very well for them. In this venture, Ines requires a loan to buy materials like paint brushes, frames, watercolors, pencils, and more. Ines' dream is to export her husband's paintings to foreign markets. The members of group as a whole are thankful for the opportunity presented to them and promise to make their payments of the debt on the timetable they have established. Cusco is located in the district and province of Cusco in the department of Cusco, in the very heart of the old city of the Incas, and has a reputation as a tourist destination, for its archeological digs, the historic downtown, its little side streets, for its history and for being a truly enchanting city in the southern region of the country. Cusco is most well-known for being a very touristy area, its commerce, and for the traditional festival of Inti Raymi, and because it is where one of the Seven Wonders of the World, “Machupicchu” is located.

Los Olivos Group : Mexico

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:40:03 PDT

$6,725 of $7,225 raised.

Started raising funds on Apr 30, 2012

Georgina is a hardworking woman who is 35 years old and happily married. She lives with Sr. José Luis who works as a blacksmith and has two children, Jorge Luis, who is 10 years old and is in 5th grade in primary school and a 7 year-old girl, who is in the first grade. Georgina is a saleswoman who has a grocery store and, thanks to her work, she has moved ahead. She will invest the loan in more merchandise for her little store such as eggs, detergent, milk, soft drinks, etc. since she needs them because her customers request more and these are products that she lacks. As well, she wants to expand her business into a larger space. She cannot complain of her sales because, fortunately, they are doing well. Her store is located in a good spot but in order to earn more income and make more of a profit she needs to stock more merchandise. Georgina is one of the members of Los Olivos Communal Bank, which consists of nine women and two men, all of them very hardworking. They comprise 11 members, each dedicated to his or her own business. The members are: Rosa, Estela, Ricardo, Maria del Carmen, Georgina, Beatriz, Rosa Isela, Ignacio, Maria del Pilar, Gaudencia and Enedina. They sell groceries, tools and vehicle repairs, bread, empañadas, food, perfume, chickens, soft drinks and stationery.

Esperanza Group : Mexico

Sun, 06 May 2012 03:00:05 PDT

$2,150 of $2,600 raised.

Started raising funds on May 6, 2012

The newest member of the group is Norma, a young lady who plans to use her loan to buy bracelets, rings, clothing and shoes. Norma, 23, is single and has no children. She sells clothing, shoes and women's and girl's accessories. She is requesting a loan to buy rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, skirts, trousers, blouses, women's and men's clothing, and to use part of it to pay for electricity and to buy paint. She started her business two months ago with savings she had; and she sells her products and the high school and CBTIS. Her business is important because it keeps her busy and provides an income. She enjoys being around people and is proud to have her own business which allows her to attend to customers including girls and women of all ages. She is using part of her income to buy clothing and shoes, and the other part goes to her mother to help pay for food. Her goals for the future are to have her own house and lead a comfortable lifestyle. She is grateful for the loan which will help her expand her business. The members of the communal bank want to say to Kiva and Fundación Realidad, "Thank you for the confidence in giving us these loans that help us in the our businesses so our families can get ahead".

Las Topacios Group : Chile

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:30:01 PDT

$250 of $4,125 raised.

Started raising funds on May 16, 2012

This Communal Bank is called "Las Topacios" and consists of 17 entrepreneurs who engage in different trades. These include making handicrafts, exhibiting products at the fairs, selling food, performing manual jobs, providing services, and other business activities. All of the members are from the city of Valdivia.

Andrea, the president of the Communal Bank, is seen in the photo standing in the first position from left to right. She is wearing a blue-colored jacket and has her hair taken back. Andrea is in the craft trade, specifically selling woven products and providing various services, such as preparing marmalades of various seasonal fruits. She has been in these businesses for 14 years. The merchandise and ingredients that she needs are purchased in the cities of Valdivia and Santiago. With this loan, she plans to remodel the shop in which she works so that she can offer her products. Her goals for her business include continuing to grow so that she can open more shops.

Andrea lives with her husband and young daughter. One of her dreams is to expand with more shops. She is grateful for the opportunity Fondo Esperanza has given her to grow her business. In addition, she is comfortable with her group, whose members demonstrate respect and trust.

Valdivia is a city in southern Chile and is located in the region of Los Ríos. This area is known for having one of the few navigable rivers in Chile, the Calle Calle. Valdivia's main industries include ship builders, lumber mills, paper processing plants, cellulose plants (Celco), breweries, and grain mills. Tourism also plays a vital role, as well as educational institutions led by the Southern University of Chile.

Maimuna : Uganda

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:30:02 PDT

$700 of $825 raised.

Started raising funds on May 14, 2012

Maimuna is thirty-two years old and lives in the town of Kalerwe in the Kampala East region of Uganda. She is widowed and has six children with three of them currently in school. For the past twelve years, Maimuna has been working hard to manage her small business, which sells clothes. To help expand her business, Maimuna has requested a loan of 2,000,000 Ugandan Shillings from BRAC Uganda. The loan will be used to buy more clothes for resale, and will help Maimuna to generate greater profits and educate her children. Maimuna hopes that in the future she will be able to own a bigger business. Maimuna is a member of BRAC's Small Enterprise Program (SEP). The program primarily serves small entrepreneurs like Maimuna who do not have enough collateral for commercial loans, but have businesses that have grown too large for microloans.

Activo De Vitarte Group : Peru

Sun, 06 May 2012 13:30:03 PDT

$2,575 of $3,400 raised.

Started raising funds on May 6, 2012

Nancy belongs to the community bank "Activo de Vitarte", located in the district of Vitarte. This bank is comprised of 7 members who are all women who have a great desire to be successful in their businesses. One of them is Nancy, who is 45 years old, married, and has 3 children, 2 of whom are grown up and one who is in high school. She has been working with the institution for 15 years and is very happy with it. Thanks to their support, she has been able to give her older children a better quality of life. She works selling seasonal products and she is currently preparing her business for Mother's Day. She will use the loan to buy clothes and beauty products to sell to her customers. She will keep working and helping her husband with the expenses for their little boy.

Zwarouski Group : Mexico

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:00:04 PDT

$2,600 of $2,825 raised.

Started raising funds on Apr 30, 2012

With this loan, Silvia is going to buy shoes for men, women and children. Veronica will buy vegetables, meat, drinks and clothing. Raquel will buy hair color, acrylic nails, brushes, nail polish, accessories, etc. Virginia Guadalupe will buy sugar, eggs, salt, soups, soap, cooking oil and drinks. Virginia is 37 years old. She is married and her husband works in a factory that makes automobile parts. She has a store where she sells perfumes, gifts and groceries. She is requesting a loan to buy cooking oil, sugar, milk, soap, eggs, dried guajillo chili peppers, drinks, water, pickled peppers, olives, sardines, Nivea cream, shampoo, gifts, toys, change purses, wallets, socks, etc. She started in her business 15 years ago; she inherited it from her mother. Now it is a family business that her husband and daughter also participate in. Her business is important because it helps her with her finances. She feels proud to sell perfumes and Avon cosmetics because of the gifts that she gets. She will use the proceeds to buy something for her parents, such as fruit, gas or medicines. She is planning to expand her business by purchasing more gift items, such as clothing. Her hopes and dreams are to grow her business by having more of everything, and also to provide her daughter with a better education. She is happy with the loan that she is going to receive, which will give her the opportunity to stock up her store. The members of this group want to say to Kiva and to the Fundación Realidad, "We appreciate the opportunity that you are giving us to make our businesses grow. Thank you for the loans that you are providing us, and keep helping those in need."

Huepalcalco Group : Mexico

Sun, 06 May 2012 03:30:01 PDT

$1,500 of $2,675 raised.

Started raising funds on May 6, 2012

This communal bank is called "Huepalcalco" and its members are: Rogelia, who plans to use her loan to buy whole-wheat bread, jam, and pork cheese; Ricarda, who will buy bedspreads, coverlets, and Avon perfumes and cosmetics; Francisca, who will buy avocados and peaches; Carmela, who wants to buy soap, sugar, eggs, soups, and canned goods; Carmen, who plans to buy cold meats, chili peppers, ham, mayonnaise and vegetables; and Brenda Lizbeth, who will to buy tomatoes, chili peppers, onions and fruit. Carmen, 43, lives with her common-law husband and two daughters, one of whom works and the other is studying to be an engineer. She sells gifts, cakes, dairy products, yoghurt and gelatin. She has requested the loan to buy merchandise such as stuffed animals, dairy products, perfumes and toys. She started her business 20 years ago. Her husband works in a creamery and is paid in merchandise. The business is important because she enjoys treating her customers well and with kindness, and earn an income. She is pround to have her own business and be able to help the family economy. She uses her profits to buy food and reinvest in her business. The loan she is requesting will give her the opportunity to buy new gift merchandise for Mother's Day, followed by Teacher's Day and Children's Day. Her goal is to open a shop window to display her goods, and through much effort and God's help, see her daughter finish her degree. The members of the group want to express to Kiva and the Fundación Realidad: "Thanks for the loans that will help us meet our goals; and please continue granting the loans so we can grow our business and help our families".

Las Marianas Group : Mexico

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:20:03 PDT

$1,925 of $3,100 raised.

Started raising funds on Apr 30, 2012

Las Marianas Communal Bank, a name taken after their own faith, they are a group of enterprising women who decided to invest in their businesses to have a better quality of life.

Hilda is one of the members; she is a wife and a mother to two children. She is driven to help her husband financially, improve their quality of life and earnings. As Hilda thought of different businesses to start she decided for a small grocery store in her home.

This business has grown and is committed to pay back the loan that will be used to buy merchandize to stock her store.

Hilda is sure that her hard work will be rewarded.