Nian's Group

Nian is a 32-year-old Iraqi woman. She is married and a mother of three children. With limited career options due to cultural restrictions and domestic constraints, Nian is one of the many Iraqi woman who is working from home, using her sewing skills to generate some income and participate in meeting the financial needs of her family. Nian has five years' experience with the small, home-based sewing and tailoring business activity which she would like to improve. Her city often has power supply problems, so to be able to better plan her work around her own schedule, she…

Nian is a 32-year-old Iraqi woman. She is married and a mother of three children. With limited career options due to cultural restrictions and domestic constraints, Nian is one of the many Iraqi woman who is working from home, using her sewing skills to generate some income and participate in meeting the financial needs of her family. Nian has five years' experience with the small, home-based sewing and tailoring business activity which she would like to improve. Her city often has power supply problems, so to be able to better plan her work around her own schedule, she would like to buy a small generator. And to be able to offer more creativity and a variety of choices to her customers, she would also like to buy an over-lock sewing machine and an iron with ironing board. To be able to make these purchases, she took a loan from Relief International - Microfinance Iraq. Relief International - Microfinance Iraq offers "Group loans" for clients unable to provide a guarantor - thereby unable to apply for a loan as an individual. As a group, the members collectively guarantee the loan. Groups consist of three to five clients and each client is evaluated on his or her repayment capacity. All group members receive the same loan amount as the individual with the lowest repayment capacity in the group. Based on the political and social challenges of lending in Iraq, personally identifiable information about these borrowers has been altered for their protection. RI-Iraq appreciates Kiva lenders' consideration of these challenges and encourages lenders to continue their support for Iraqi borrowers.