Favorite Field Partners

[Guest]

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[redstarr]

I just discovered the other day how to look into the field partners, and there's more differences there than I expected.  And a lot of great info if you click on the field partner.  I expected to just find stuff about how much their default rate is,etc, kind of a detailed version of the star rating.  But it's way more than that.

Lots of stuff going on with a lot of them besides just the basic disbursing our money and taking in the repayments.  Some stuff like education and community stuff.  A lot of them have some objectives beyond just helping economically, but socially,too.  Very cool.  (Though there is one I happened across today that sounds like it's got some religious stuff as a part of it's bigger mission, kind of a turn off for me, but might actually be a plus for some folks.)

And lots of great info in there on their rate of repayment vs default, the interest rate charged to our borrowers, demographics like gender,and info on how many journals they're doing,too.

I'd like to see info on how fast the average loan from each partner is disbursed,too.  That would be a nice tidbit to see added someday. 

[Sengbe Pieh]

Here is a new Field Partner in Costa Rica that seems deserving of our support:
http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=151

First loan Listed: Nov 23, 2009
Fundraising Status:     Pilot
Time on Kiva:    0 months

While searching for loans this morning I came across the following loan & write up:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=158763

Any MFI that is willing to put this much time, effort & information into not only posting their loans on Kiva, at least initially, but serving their clients, certainly deserves our support IMHO.

I am going to post the entire, rather long, loan description for your reading pleasure      
They have provided equally detailed information about all 8 of their Kiva loans to date:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&partner_id=151&status=All&sortBy=New+to+Old

The official name of this group is “The Women´s Bank of Mâmârkua”. This group consists of eight women from the Suretka region near the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. With this loan, Elizabeth, Lidiana and Elidieth will receive a loan to invest at their discretion. In the picture, Elizabeth is sitting in the chair in the bottom left corner. Lidiana is wearing bright red pants (3rd in from the right) and Elidieth is the second woman in from the right (wearing a turquoise shirt). These women have created The Women’s Bank of Mâmârkua as a formal way to support one another as guarantors of each other’s loans. This loan will be the group’s second with Fundacion Mujer.

The Mâmârkua Women come from a culture that values and praises the elements of nature as well as the wisdom of elders. The word “mâmârkua” signifies “flower” in their native language. Elizabeth, Lidiana and Elidieth are applying for loans of 200,000 colons each.

Indigenous rural areas such as Suretka are characterized by many difficulties such as a lack of job opportunities, infrastructural deficiencies, low levels of formal education and lack of available financial services.

The Mâmârkua Women have adapted to their challenging situation through a communal initiative to create work for themselves by engaging in the cultivation and sale of plantains (similar to a banana but green and mainly used for cooking - a staple food in the region). For the group members, the responsibility of raising a family has fallen on their shoulders alone, rendering the revenue generated from plantain sales a vital source of income. Despite their entrepreneurial spirit, their efforts have been hamstrung, partly due to exclusion from the traditional banking system. This is where you, through Kiva’s lending model, can help.

Each woman has been allocated a parcel of land by the Costa Rican government, in Suretka, a region located in the province of Limon. The women use this land for the growing of plantains as well as other subsistence crops. An intermediary distributor comes to the rural village once a week to purchase plantains from the women. In a good month, each woman can earn up to 70,000 colons. The distributor sells the plantains in the closest large city, Limon. The plantains require nine months to reach maturity (one complete cycle).

The close proximity of the Suretka region to a river has resulted in a major challenge for the group. Every year, the women must cope with the inundation of their plantain crops during the rainy season. In these months, the river rises and drowns an unpredictable number of the agricultural crops which are the source of livelihood for the Mâmârkua Women and their families.

To surmount the seasonal obstacle of the rising river, the women have decided to expand their fields of cultivation to areas further away from the water. Although this may seem a simple solution, the land is a jungle, ridden with trees and undesirable weeds that need to be cleared before anything new can be planted. The women lack the resources (labour, tools) to take on this work themselves. Your loan will enable the Mâmârkua women to clear and use their land more effectively. By providing capital, the group members will be able to invest in necessary resources to clear new areas of their land for harvest at a safer distance from the rising river.

The credit consultant who has been working with The Women´s Bank of Mâmârkua over the past two years compliments the group on their punctual repayments as well as on their responsible and organized nature. Your loan is a direct investment in the betterment of the lives of women living in a poor community of Caribbean Costa Rica. By lending to these proactive and hardworking entrepreneurs, you are enabling them to help themselves.


  on Earth
toward men (and women too)   

Geoff

[Jan & John]

Thanks Geoff, I'll join and help make it a worthwhile use of their time.

-jan-

[cjp1973]

A 2nd loan posted to the new Costa Rican MFI, with a very detailed write-up

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=163296&_tpos=f&_tpg=h
Roxana is 33 years old. She lives with her son, daughter and husband in La Suiza de Turrialba, a rural region near the Central Valley of Costa Rica. Roxana´s completed primary school. The credit consultant who has been working with Roxana over the last few months describes her character as persevering, hardworking and strong.

Roxana has developed her sales abilities by selling hand-made clothing, cosmetics, and various household items, to clients in her community in La Suiza de Turrialba. Going from door to door, Roxana provides her clients with four different catalogues to peruse, offering a range of personal and household products. Every 22 days, a representative from each catalogue company holds a meeting in the community to collect the orders from Roxana and other women. Within a week, the items are delivered to Roxana´s home, who then delivers the products to her clients. Many micro-entrepreneurs in Costa Rica make their living this way.

Roxana launched her business with an investment of 25,000 colones that she used to purchase the catalogues. At the moment, she has 20 regular clients and hopes to use this loan to increase that number. She has been selling clothes for the past ten years. In a good month, she can earn 200,000 colones, in a bad month, only 140,000. Roxana started her business so she could contribute to family income and because she enjoys the work.

An obstacle for Roxana is the fixed margin imposed by the catalogue companies. Vendors are required to charge the price dictated by the catalogue. This strict regulation has hampered Roxanas ability to tailor prices to her client’s needs, and thus limited her earnings. Roxana knows of a supplier in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, who offers better prices for products. She is applying for a loan from Fundacion Mujer to purchase more inventory items from this supplier. By travelling to San Jose once a week to purchase items, Roxana is confident she will be able to earn more profit from her sales as she will be able to dictate her margins and final prices.

Although this will be her first loan with an official financial institution, Roxana has benefited from many loans from suppliers in the past who have not presented any negative references. Roxana has always enjoyed working in sales and earning her own source of income. Financial independence is something she values highly. Her goal is to open a clothing store. She wants her business to grow so that she can provide a higher standard of living for her family. She says ¨the money I earn is not for my husband, not for me, but for my family.¨

[Diane R]

We all have our own favorite MFIs, for various reasons.  Pro Mujer is one of mine; it's been discussed a number of times before here at KF.  But sometimes there are just some clear reasons why the best MFIs are so much more than a lending entity....


Palomas Group

. . .
Leonarda is a mature lady who is 52 years old. She is divorced and has four children. She says that she has participated in other community banks and with the money her business has grown and she has been able to improve her living conditions. Her business started with a small stall in the doorway of her home from where she sold deep-fried chicken. Over time she managed to make the alterations necessary to open a guesthouse. In addition, she comments that some years ago she received a check up in the doctor's office at Pro Mujer which saved her life since it diagnosed an illness which required an emergency operation.
. . .

--Diane.