November.25.2017

KIVA Project Update: December 2017 – Part 1

As the Advocacy Director for BPW Saskatoon, I am pleased to provide you with an update as to what we’ve been up to with our KIVA lending account. In this month’s updates, I’d like to introduce you to some of the wonderful ladies we’ve been helping around the world (below), and tell you a little more about how they’re using the loans to better their financial position and help their families.

I encourage you to visit Kiva’s website and see the various ways you can make a difference for these women, either by starting your own account or by contributing to the BPW account via Kiva Card at https://www.kiva.org/gifts/kiva-cards.

Watch for more updates from amazing women around the world in the coming weeks!

Lisa Steinhilber
BPW Saskatoon Advocacy Director

Photo courtesy KIVA

Meet Ms Tình from Vietnam. She is 36 years old and a widow with 2 children. Her husband died a number of years ago. She has been operating a retail business selling dry food and general items for 10 years. She is planning to hire more workers in the future.
Tình lives in the Yen Dinh district, a rural town in Thanh Hoa province. Her family is a low-income household in the village, moreover the market need is low in this region. However; Tình is a reputable person in the community. This is her first loan from the Thanh Hoa microfinance institution. The main hardship that Tình faces is lack of capital. She is requesting a loan to purchase more cake, sweets, suger, milk, etc. to resell.

With her business profit, Tình hopes for her business to do well, to make enough money to provide for her kids, and to be able to buy more supplies and equipment for her business.
Tinh has asked for a loan of $900, which will be repaid in monthly instalments over the next 14 months.

Photo courtesy KIVA

Girumwete cb is a group represented by Jeanette who is 40 years old. She is married with 8 children aged between 2 and 21 years. The group name means “be quick” in English. She sells peas, and she has been doing this business for the past 5 years. The group members work hard in order to improve their standard of living.

This loan was in the amount of $6,400 and with the loan, she would like to buy more peas for sale. The profits from the business will be used to increase her savings. The loan was granted October 2, 2017 and will be repaid over the next 5 months.

Photo courtesy KIVA

Claudia Estrella is 33 years old. She completed her degree in Administration and works as the administrator of a dental lab.

Claudia Estrella is known as a person who like to settle down and have goals. At this time as she manages a cosmetic dentistry she has decided to take an degree in aesthetic dentistry so she can learn about the business and have better control of it. The loan she is receiving will be invested completely in paying for her course.
Claudia previously had another loan with Kiva. She was enrolled in a business administration program and completed her university program Subsequently, she completed a postgraduate degree in public management.

Claudia’s loan of $1,400 was advanced September 22, 2017 and is repayable in monthly installments over 20 months.

Photo courtesy KIVA

Gaudensia is in her late 30’s, a single mother of 4 school- going children. She is a fruit seller, selling different fruits such as avocados, watermelon, pineapple, oranges and mangoes. She has been into this business for five years. She usually works from 5 in the morning to 7 at night to earn a profit.

This will be Gaudensia’s first loan request from Tujijenge Tanzania. She is applying for a loan of $625 to add more stock of fruits such as mangoes, yellow bananas, watermelon, oranges and all the seasonal fruits. The loan was advanced on October 10, 2017 and is repayable in monthly instalments over the next 8 months.

Her dream is to start a small industry for fruits.

Gaudensia will share a portion of this loan with her loan group members of “Amani Group -Morogoro”.