One of our new entrepreneur groups: The Por Una Vida Digna Group in Peru

“Por Una Vida Digna” is a group of ten people who have been investing in some type of business since six years. Mrs. Benedicta Serrano, for example, makes and sells variously flavored yoghurts according to her customers’ wishes. She also sells various fruit nectars.
She has a lot of demand so the funds she receives will be used to buy an ice chest. She is a very active group member and, because of that, she was selected to be the group president.
As a dance teacher, Elsa Dávalos, noticed renting costumes could be a profitable enterprise so she began to make them herself and then rent them to her students. This work has given her much satisfaction.
The other group members have different lines of work to which they are dedicated with much enthusiasm and effort because one of their most important objectives is to provide their families with sustenance and good education.

We allocated a loan of US$50 to the “The Por Una Vida Digna”, as one of our 44 new loans. In this loan trench, I concentrated on:

1. Groups of entrepreneurs, led by women, or with a majority of women; or
2. Entrepreneurs working in agriculture by either growing a crop or raising animals; or
3. Entrepreneurs in South America.

I allocated a total of US$1,775 in loans to entrepreneurs in Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Cambodia, Philippines and Nicaragua. This amount was the total repayment of previous loans, which I received during the month of December.

Here is the full list of the new loans:

• Las Cumbeñitas Group in Ecuador: $50
• Tol Sok Village Group in Cambodia: $50
• Beverlyn Solito in Philippines: $25
• Cruz Velasquez in Nicaragua: $25
• Fely Bautista in Philippines: $25
• Yein Phang in Cambodia: $25
• Enriquita Cerbas in Philippines: $25
• Evelyn Diaz in Philippines: $25
• Margarita Irabon in Philippines: $25
• Chhom Meas’ Group in Cambodia: $50
• Pao Pech Village Group in Cambodia: $50
• Saroem Moul Village Group in Cambodia: $50
• Lydia Perangco in Philippines: $25
• Arlyn Bajenting in Philippines: $25
• Yeu Soem Village Group in Cambodia: $50
• Roath Sao Village Group in Cambodia: $50
• Mao Lerb Village Group in Cambodia: $50
• Toeurn Loch Village Group in Cambodia: $50
• Goun Touch Group in Cambodia: $50
• Savon Khun Group in cambodia: $50
• Thach Pen Group in Cambodia: $50
• Seu Suon Group in Cambodia: $50
• Mey Loem in Cambodia: $25
• Oeurn Suong Group in Cambodia: $50
• Chea Nun Group in Cambodia: $50
• Sokhorn Chham Group in Cambodia: $50
• Thoeun Pin Group in Cambodia: $50
• Sopheap Srey Group in Cambodia: $50
• Alejandrina in Peru: $25
• Norma Ruth in Bolivia: $25
• Qorimakis Group in Peru: $50
• Papa Paulo Group in Bolivia: $50
• Esther in Peru: $25
• Las Triunfadoras in Ecuador: $50
• Maripositas Group in Bolivia: $50
• Alternativa Group in Bolivia: $50
• 10 De Noviembre Ii Group in Bolivia: $50
• Mujeres Anfitrionas Group in Paraguay: $50
• Por Una Vida Digna Group in Peru: $50
• Victorina Aranda in Paraguay: $50
• Rosas De Bautista Group in Bolivia: $50
• Virgen De Fatima Group in Bolivia: $50
• Piedad Escaleras in Ecuador: $25
• Janneth Marlene Narvaez Luna in Ecuador: $25

Over the past two months, we have received quite a bit of news from our entrepreneurs all over the world which we supported through microfinance loans.

A grip out of the numerous updates:

Over the past year, we have supported many loans to Ecuador. A recent update showed how life continues to be a challenge in South America:

A major energy crisis has swept Ecuador since November 5, crippling many businesses.
Daily power rationing in every zone of every town and city lasts between 3 and 5 hours every day. Half of Ecuador’s economic output is petroleum, but most is destined for foreign lands. Domestically, the country relies on hydroelectric power. The nationwide drought and lack of alternative fuel sources have brought the country to a near-standstill. Coupled with the global financial crisis, the energy crunch has impacted further access to capital for many entrepreneurs, given slower demand for goods and services.

Examples of how Kiva borrowers have been affected are unfortunately easy to find from our interviews. For example, Felinda in Manta has a restaurant that needed to shut its doors in the evening for dinner, as she could not service her clients. Astromelia in Portoviejo could not use her computer nor print photos for clients using her digital printer when the power went out for 5 hours in the middle of a work day.

In Cuenca, the drought itself is impacting the many agricultural businesses of Kiva borrowers such as Teresa who lives in the hills behind Cuenca. Many of her chickens and pigs purchased with a Kiva loan have passed away, and she is currently behind on her repayments to Fundación Espoir. Luckily, the government has stated that the crisis will be over and daily rationing will end before Christmas due to new deals signed with Peru and Colombia to supply energy to Ecuador.

Cindy has invested her money in buying more shoes and a car to transport goods. She has not had difficulty in paying her loan so far and is in good health. Cindy is also 6 months pregnant with a boy on the way. Her husband’s electrician business is not going as well due to the economy, but has been taking advantage recently with the energy crisis with the sale of generators for businesses in need.

Maria, on the other hand, invested her money in buying more chickens, guinea pigs and food for her animals. Mari has had some family issues recently with the recent death of her sister who passed away from a stroke. Maria has taken over care of her 3 nieces who are 7, 5 and 11 months of age because the children’s father was an alcoholic and could not care for them.

After the devastating typhoons which hit South East Asia in October, we launched a major fundraiser to support the affected entrepreneurs in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam. Over $6,000 was raised in one month.
In December we received several updates:

Instead of running her planned a sari-sari (variety) store, Ms Irvy Bation in the Philippines is currently focused on her ice drops business. If the weather is good, Irvy estimated that she can make P1,000 in a day. She’ll usually leave 3 boxes of ice drops at three separate school canteens at the beginning of the day, and then will visit the schools again at the end of the day to pick up the earnings. She also takes orders for ice drops, usually from neighbors.

Apart from ice pops, Irvy also sells what she calls “lumpianiza” – or lumpia (small eggrolls) with longaniza (Filipino pork sausage) as the filling. She sells the lumpianiza for credit, payable in 15 days.

Irvy expressed her thanks for the loan in the video above. She was comfortable enough to use English for most of her interview, so the video is well-worth checking out! Going forward, Irvy would like to buy a freezer, so she can make more ice drops and expand her business to other schools.

We highlighted Fe Erma before, an entrepreneur directly affected by the typhoons before. Fe used our loan to buy what was needed for her fishing business: 4 bundles of different fishnets worth Php 40,000 and 40 pieces of bamboo worth Php 2,000, a total of Php 42,000.
She will use all of these in expanding the fish pond. The remaining part of her loan is kept as a buffer when her business needs it.

Lolita Cerezola, also in the Philippines was also affected by the typhoons which destroyed her fishing pond. She converted her loan to a group fund and every member of the group can use it in times of emergency needs.

Lolita used the loan that she received in buying the necessary things that needed by her business in improving it. To repair the fish cage she buys what is needed like fishnets worth Php 11,250, bamboo cost Php 2,500, different nails worth Php 1,000, a total of Php 14,750. They also bought a small boat and repaired it to make bigger, costing them Php 25,260. She use her own savings to compliment the loan.

Nancy Cernero used the loan to buy a complete boat worth Php 18,000, different types of fishnet worth 12,000, a total of Php 30,000. Their first plan is to make their own boat but they decided to buy a made fishing boat because they were running out of time. They really needed to use the boat in fishing. They’ll just make sure that the boat that they’ll buy is durable.

From Cambodia, we received this update:

Mrs. Mao Kung and her husband, Mr. Nget Sarom work hard to support their four children. She is a pig breeder and her husband is a rice farmer. In order to grow her pig breeding business, Mao Kung used the loan of 1,000,000 Riel ($250 USD) to buy piglets and pig feed. She successfully sold the pigs earlier this year and experienced an increase in profits.
She reported that she was able to start a savings as well as buy a cow to plow her husband’s rice field. They expect to save money over the long run since they will no longer need to hire a laborer for the field. They did have a minor setback as her husband got a lung complication and needed to spend 150,000 Riel ($38 USD) on medical attention. Despite the minor financial setback, Mao Kung was very happy with the loan’s impact and plans on taking out another loan to buy more piglets.

Fe Erma Aragones lost her fish pond in Typhoon Ondoy

Fe Erma Aragones lives with her husband Biato Aragones and their three children Emilio, Ana Marie and Angelica in Binangonan, a village in the North of the Philippines province of Rizal. She says their children, and their new grandchildren are really their blessing and the reason they strive hard to fight against poverty.  Because of their work, all of their children could graduate from college, and found work now.

Fe and Biato have a fish pond in the sea. When Typhoon Ondoy entered Rizal, their fish pond was damaged. The level of water in the sea got that high all the fish inside the fish pond were lost. They wanted to repair the fish pond and expand it. They also needed new funds to buy fishlings they can raise until it is ready for harvest.

Fe asked for a loan of US$950, repayable over 14 months. We allocated a loan of US$25 to her, as part of our project to help microfinance entrepreneurs in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam recovering from the recent typhoons.

Over the past month, we allocated $1,825 to this project. Friends from The Road’s lending team contributed another US$730, bringing the total of new loans after the typhoons to US$6,055. This matches the total amount we raised through this post.

The project balance:

The microfinance loans I allocated this month:

• Merlie Heyrana in Philippines: $25
• Myrna Guidaben in Philippines: $25
• Genevieve Caipang in Philippines: $25
• Elma Mangubat in Philippines: $25
• Juanita Tare in Philippines: $25
• Marcela Mahilum in Philippines: $25
• Melinda Candelaria in Philippines: $25
• Fe Erma Aragones in Philippines: $25
• Rudy Salvo in Philippines: $25
• Roselie Curato in Philippines: $25
• Gloria Concon in Philippines: $25
• Virginia Alejandro in Philippines: $25
• Rechel Banca in Philippines: $25
• Rosalita Petalcorin in Philippines: $25
• Magdalena Pabatang in Philippines: $25
• Romeo Giganto in Philippines: $50
• Eniseria Pepito in Philippines: $50
• Angelina Consigo in Philippines: $50
• Tita Compo in Philippines: $25
• Feliciana Omandam in Philippines: $25
• Salvacion Ido in Philippines: $25
• Marites Pahayac in Philippines: $25
• Nancy Cernero in Philippines: $25
• Elizabeth Medina in Philippines: $25
• Lolita Cerezola in Philippines: $25
• Riza Misa in Philippines: $25
• Nida Oculam in Philippines: $25
• Domeciano Sabares in Philippines: $25
• Thelma Tagactac in Philippines: $25
• Daisy Jordan in Philippines: $25
• Elizabeth Proctan in Philippines: $25
• Lina Albios in Philippines: $25
• Jocelyn Latoga in Philippines: $25
• Brayan Baguio in Philippines: $25
• Charlie Labtang in Philippines: $25
• Teresita Magallanes in Philippines: $25
• Maria Fe Roxas in Philippines: $25
• Dorotea Gallegos in Philippines: $25
• Rim Meak Group in Cambodia: $100
• Rim Seam Group in Cambodia: $100
• Tean Y Peng Group in Cambodia: $100
• Sokha Hin Group in Cambodia: $100
• Saream Sruon Group in Cambodia: $100
• Phalla Sok Group in Cambodia: $100
• Vanna Huy Group in Cambodia: $100
• Sophoen Morm Group in Cambodia: $100

Our social project uses Kiva to allocate microfinance loans to entrepreneurs all over the world. Kiva explains pretty clearly how THEY do the job, but here I’ll get YOU started to allocate loans too.

The principle is very easy:

• Once you registered in Kiva (see below), you can choose an individual entrepreneur in any of the countries or sectors (agriculture, clothes, construction) you want to allocate a loan to.
• You can allocate a loan as small as US$25. A loan can be paid either through your PayPal account or can be charged to your credit card.
• Over time, the entrepreneur will pay back your loan. Once per month, you will be advised of the amount paid back to your account.
• You can choose then to either redraw the refunded money, or reinvest it in new loans.

Step 1: Register with Kiva

1. Go to http://www.kiva.org
2. Click on “Register” in the top right corner



3. Fill in all the fields in the registration form (“Display me as” indicates the name you wish to be displayed for all your loans)
4. Click on “Sign Up”

Step 2: Register as a member to “The Road” lenders team

1. Go to The Road’s Lenders team page
2. Click on “Join”
3. You are now an official member of our Lenders team!

Step 3: Start allocating loans

1. While you are logged in, click on “Lend” in the menu bar
   
2. Choose your entrepreneur either by selecting the criteria from the top menu bar (“Gender”, “Sector”, “Region”) or type in a country in the “Search” bar.
3. Once you found an entrepreneur, either click on “Lend $25″ or click on “more” to see the full details or to allocate a larger amount
4. Repeat this step until you have allocated all loans you want. Then click on “My Basket” in the top right menu.
5. While viewing your basket, make sure you select “The Road” in the “Count towards team” drop down menu bar.
   
6. Click on “Continue”
7. On the next screen, you can select how much you want to contribute Kiva’s overhead. Select a percentage you prefer, or select “$0.00 – None at this time”. Then click on “Donate this amount to Kiva”
8. Now you will get the overview page of all pending loans in “your basket”. Click on “Complete”
9. This will bring you onto the payment screen:
   
10. Either pay with your credit card or using your PayPal account. Note that PayPal will not charge you any overhead cost for this transaction
11. Complete the transaction and you will be brought onto final screen of your loan(s). Now you can post this loan (or these loans) to your Facebook profile, or forward it by Email to your friends, or just do nothing.
12. Congratulations, you have now allocated your first loan(s) to Kiva!

Roberto Doroni in the Philippines needed more farming supplies

After typhoons Ketsana and Parma hit the Philippines, 7 million people were affected. we started a fundraiser and advocacy campaign here on “Have Impact!”, which generated more than 1,000 comments. I promised to raise $5 per comment, for micro finance loans to entrepreneurs in the Philippines so people could get their lives back on track, and restart if need be.

As part of this project, we have issued quite a few loans to people already. Roberto Doroni was one of them. He lives in Pangal Norte – Echague with his wife and two children. Farming is his main income, and he was looking for a loan of $325 to invest in more farming supplies so he could increase his crop yield.
We issued him a loan of $50, to be repaid over 7 months.

Here is the list of all 42 loans we have have issued over the past four days:

• Maria Bosi in Philippines: $50
• Liza Maquiling in Philippines: $50
• Aireen Miraran in Philippines: $50
• Benigna Torremocha in Philippines: $50
• Norwina Cabato in Philippines: $50
• Restie Cenabre in Philippines: $50
• Rosalinda Comidoy in Philippines: $50
• Ruth Ann Pascual in Philippines: $50
• Bernadette Labad in Philippines: $25
• Evangelista Vitalez in Philippines: $25
• Ligaya Dela Torre in Philippines: $25
• Danilo Galendez in Philippines: $50
• Maria’s family in Philippines: $25
• Lucena Cabansay in Philippines: $25
• Merlina Castillejos in Philippines: $25
• Luz Fermin in Philippines: $25
• Fe Lim in Philippines: $25
• Helen Mendez in Philippines: $25
• Helen Fortaliza in Philippines: $25
• Bonifacio Sanchez in Philippines: $25
• Asuncion Iquin in Philippines: $25
• Lolita Viajidor in Philippines: $25
• Azel Apiado in Philippines: $25
• Aida Suyu in Philippines: $25
• Lolita Padogdog in Philippines: $25
• Concepcion Elcarte in Philippines: $25
• Maria Eloisa Laranjo in Philippines: $25
• Gonzala Magalona in Philippines: $25
• Nemesiana Lagrosa in Philippines: $25
• Nancy Leones in Philippines: $50
• Eudisa Belloc in Philippines: $50
• Jennlyn Ely in Philippines: $50
• Diosa Bacala in Philippines: $50
• Aireen Miraran in Philippines: $50
• Erlinda Rodriguez in Philippines: $50
• Maribeth Gulocan in Philippines: $50
• Nenita Tura in Philippines: $50
• Remedios Marzo in Philippines: $50
• Josephine Ventoso in Philippines: $50
• Adelaida Montes in Philippines: $50
• Marilou Cagatin in Philippines: $50
• Roberto Doroni in Philippines: $50

Apart from the loans I issued, many others have joined forces with us. members of our Kiva Lenders team issued over 2,000 US$ of loans just in the past week. Well done all!

Felicino Sara in the Philippines

In our team effort to raise microfinance loans for the Philippines, which were hard hit by the recent typhoons, we are raising $5 per comment left on our kickoff post. Our action runs until October 31.

Apart from fundraising, we continue to allocate new loans to entrepreneurs in the Philippines who will use the funds to revive and expand their livelihood.

Diane, one of our Kiva Lenders’ team, stepped forward and helped me out. She already allocated 25 loans for a total of $625 for this project. She committed to “buy” up to 200 comments on the post I mentioned before.

My Friend “E”, donated $300 to “buy” 60 comments, loans allocated in this post.

Elizabeth, a colleague and friend, who is also member of our Kiva team, donated $100, and as such “bought” 20 comments. Her loans are allocated in this post.

I donated $300, buying 60 comments, for 6 loans.

Our Philippines project has now allocated $1,325 already.

The most recent loan went to Felicino Sara in Trento, Agusan Del Sur, in the Philippines. Felicino is 58 years old and farms a small rice field a short distance away from his village. He hopes the farm will help him supply his family with the food, clothes and other basic things they need. He constantly attempts to surpass the size of his previous harvest.

He needed a loan of $175, refundable over 7 months, as an additional capital for his business. The loan will help him sustain his livelihood until the next harvest.

As small stake holder farmers are the “engine” of the economy in a country like the Philippines, we gave him a loan of US$50.

The loans we allocated in the past two days:

• Martina Acosta in Philippines: $50
• Irvy Bation in Philippines: $50
• Luzviminda Acio in Philippines: $50
• Mary Ann Campos in Philippines: $50
• Felicino Sara in Philippines: $50
• Marionito Abesia in Philippines: $50
• Edmar Ortega in Philippines: $50
• Roger Ermita in Philippines: $50

Norma Danao in the Philippines

After the devastating typhoons hit the Philippines, we started a fundraising project, to better the lives of the entrepreneurs there. I promised $5 for every comment left on the kick-off post. At the moment of writing we received close 500 comments, and thus raised over US$2,500 already.

The loans issued today, are part of that project. They loans have been funded by my Friend E, who “bought” the pledges of 60 comments.

The first new loan goes to Norma Danao, an industrious woman from the village of Bliss, Ilagan, Isabela in the Philippines. She is married to Mario, who discovered a new formula for home-made fertilizer.
Norma and her husband, have been manufacturing ‘foliar’ fertilizers for seven years already and their business is expanding rapidly. To meet the demands of their customers, she hopes to access a loan of US$650 as additional capital in purchasing different ingredients for the fertilizer.

We allocated a loan of $50 to her.

Other loans allocated today:

• Amelia Mangonon in Philippines: $25
• Norma Danao in Philippines: $50
• Wilma Abecia in Philippines: $50
• Zenny Aiza Arao in Philippines: $50
• Arlyn Tasaki in Philippines: $50
• Virginia Fabros in Philippines: $25
• Nena recamara in Philippines: $50

October 21: Turning words into deed: I donate US$5 per comment on this post
October 22: 208 comments, US$1,040 raised in 24 hours
October 23: 400 comments, US$2,000 raised in 48 hours
October 24: 500 comments, US$2,500 raised. First new loans allocated
October 26: 587 comments, almost $3,000 raised. New loans allocated
October 27: 680 comments, almost $3,400 raised. New loans allocated
October 28: 1080 comments – 400 in the past 24h!
October 30: 1200 comments – 42 new loans allocated
***October 31: Official total: 1211 comments or US$6055!***
November 29: All loans area allocated

One of our entrepreneurs, Leoncia Arellano, lost her livelihood in the recent typhoons.

In the past weeks, two deadly storms struck the Philippines killing more than 700 people. The flooding disaster affected more than 7 million people. While the humanitarian efforts are in full gear trying to cope with the impact of this massive emergency, we should also keep in mind “the human face” of the storms. We should not forget what this actually means to each of the individual people affected by the typhoons, the mudslides, the excessive rainfalls.

Since we kicked off our microfinance project “Change Starts Here” a year ago on my personal blog, we made quite some microfinance loans to entrepreneurs in the Philippines. Unfortunately many of these people’s lives have been turned upside down by Typhoons Ketsana and Parma. One of them is Leoncia Arellano.

Leoncia, a mother of three, married to Benigno, lives in the island village in the town of Binangonan, Rizal province in the Philippines.

She has been very active member of ASHI, the local Kiva partner, and became the leader of their center in Binangonan. In July, she asked a loan of 45,000 pesos as additional capital for her fish pond. 29,500 pesos of her loan was used for her fish pond while the remaining amount will be spent on her secondary businesses: direct selling and tricycle (rickshaw) transportation. We have her a loan of US$25 three months ago.

Leoncia hoped to establish a strong, sound and profitable business so that she would be able to help her grandchildren with their school fees, and someday build a more durable and spacious house.

Unfortunately, this dream might not come true. Today, I received an update about Leoncia:

After the entrance of Typhoon Ondoy to the area of the Philippines which caused a big damage to a hundred thousand people, Kiva field partner ASHI visited all their members living in the place ravaged by Typhoon Ondoy. Some of them lost their houses because of flood, lost their means of living, and worst lost one or more member of their family.

If should see the situation with your own eyes… ASHI lends a helping hand in a little way like giving food which is what they really needed at this moment.

Leoncia Arellano’s family is one of those really affected by Typhoon Ondoy. Their fish pond, their main source of income, lays destroyed by the strong winds and big waves. In the past three months, Leoncia had used most of the loan in making this business more productive. Their boat, used to harvest fishes in the fish pond, is damaged by the strong current of the flood, so they don’t have anything to repair their fish pond and will surely need money to restructure the fish pond.

Their tricycle is also damaged by the flood and does not work anymore.

ASHI decided to suspend the repayment for every entrepreneur for two weeks and want to implement recovery loans so people can rebuild their lost means of living.

I left the following message for ASHI:

I am really sorry to hear how badly the people were affected by the storm.

Leoncia was one of the entrepreneurs we supported with our lenders team.

Through your update, I understand the delay in repayments, and would encourage ASHI to suspend the repayments for a longer period, and to appeal for new longer term loans so people have a chance to rebuild their livelihoods.

If there is anything we can do to help, please drop me an email via peter (at) theroadtothehorizon (dot) org, and I will be happy to help mobilizing the resources.

Thanks for this update, and thank you for caring!

Peter

October 21: To turn words into deeds:

For EVERY comment left on this blogpost, I will donate US$5 to microfinance entrepreneurs in the Philippines affected by the floods. One comment per person, deadline October 31.

If you want to give extra help, join our Kiva team and contribute directly to the Kiva projects yourself.

Update 22 Oct: 208 comments, US$1,040 raised in 24 hours

THANK YOU, everyone for your kind comments. I have to admit this initiative takes proportions I had not imagined. We are now just about 24 hours after I posted this message, and we have already 208 comments, equivalent of US$1,040.

10 new people joined our Kiva lenders team, and started allocating loans to the entrepreneurs in the Philippines directly. GREAT!

In the mean time, I have some sponsors lined up to make sure I don’t go broke on the pledge of allocating $5 per comment left on this post.

Keep on spreading the message. Keep on pointing people to this fundraising post. It is important people discover Kiva, discover what they can contribute to make this world a better place, find out that by allocating a loan to someone, they enable that person to embetter their lives THEMSELVES.

And from a purely selfish point of view, remember that Kiva loans are… LOANS. Once they are paid back, you can either re-invest or retract your funds. (which makes it a safer investment of your money than what some banks offer, if you ask me)

Keep it coming, team! Keep on spreading the message to your friends, family, colleagues via Email, Twitter, Facebook or your blog,…

May I ask one favour? If you leave a comment, also note the city and country you live in. It gives readers a good impression where the help comes from. Readers will see there are people with a good heart in all parts of the world.– Thanks.

Update 23 Oct: 400 comments, US$2,000 raised in 48 hours

The comments keep on coming. Here is an overview of the progress of our project after 48 hours:

• We just passed the 400 comments mark, which means we raised US$2,000 so far.
• Several people stepped up to the mark. My Friend E vowed to “buy” 60 comments for US$300, to help us fund this effort. Diane, one of our new Kiva lenders team proposed to assist by allocating new loans to our project. My mum also stepped up and vowed some cash to “buy some comments”. That is great, and part of the intension I had with this fundraising project: start a bit of a snowball effect so others will step up and follow.
• More than 20 new people joined our Kiva lenders team.
• The 57 members of our Kiva lenders team allocated over US$1,000 in over 30 new loans in the past 48 hours.
• I am trying to keep up with the progress on our project scorecard.

I am reading every comment you kind people leave. I can not reply or thank each of you individually, but will try to answer some of the questions that have been asked:

• Q: You donate $5 per comment left on this blogpost. Is this a hoax?
  A: Nope it is not. I will continue to report on the loans allocated. We’re running this fundraiser until Oct 31. I will start allocating loans in the next days already (as the people need funds NOW), and allocate new loans until the balance of the $-value ((comments vs. loans)) is zero.
• Q: you say you have lined up sponsors, who are they?
  A: Blogging is my main hobby, and I run a large number of blogs (check the list). On some of these blogs, I run ads, for which people pay me. Not much, but enough to refund the cost of hosting these blogs, the picture libraries etc.. When my advertisement revenue is more than my cost, I invest it in our Kiva projects. Apart from that, as I described above: some individuals also stepped up to help me fund this. The rest, I fund from my pocket..
• Q: What is your goal with this action?
  A: I am convinced that “good” rolls off. I kicked this off as a personal initiative hoping people will think about this particular natural disaster, about the people involved, pick up on the initiative and step up. While doing so, I hoped (which turned out to work) we can create some momentum to bring more “good” in the world.

Meanwhile, I am dreaming: Who knows maybe the Kiva and the microfinance community would be able to take similar actions our entrepreneurs in an area hit by a natural disaster. Very often these people live ‘on the edge’: using microfinance loans they are able to start a humble business, or invest in an existing business, but we need to continue to realize these are small business owners. If something like a flood, drought, earthquake, political turmoil and violence or in this case, a typhoon, hits them, they loose enough to put them back at ground-zero. At that point, they have the knowledge, experience and will to start all over again, but often lack the capital. And that is where we step in, the microfinance lenders..

So maybe I am just dreaming, but I wish we would institutionalize helping entrepreneurs to re-start when they are pushed over the edge.

Please keep on spreading the link to this post. Our appeal for comments runs until October 31st. Get active on forums, blog about this initiative, put it out on Twitter, Facebook and any other media you have.

Update 24 Oct: 500 comments, US$2,500 raised. First new loans allocated

We are now in the third day of our fundraiser, and received 500 comments already. Time to start allocating loans to the entrepreneurs in the Philippines. our first batch of loans is worth $300, and sponsored by a Friend.

Someone -rightfully- mentioned by Email that not only the Philippines were affected by the recent typhoons, but also Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Kiva is not active in Laos, but we will include loans to entrepreneurs in Cambodia and Vietnam in this project.

Update 26 Oct: 587 comments, almost $3,000 raised. New loans allocated

Diane, one of our Kiva Lenders’ team, stepped forward and helped me out. She already allocated 20 loans for a total of $500 for this project.
I allocated another $100 loans (20 comments “bought” by my friend Elizabeth).

A sincere thanks to both of you! This brings the total of allocated loans to $900.
Please keep on spreading the message!

Update 27 Oct: 680 comments, almost $3,400 raised. New loans allocated

Apart from fundraising, we continue to allocate new loans to entrepreneurs in the Philippines who will use the funds to revive and expand their livelihood.

Diane, one of our Kiva Lenders’ team, already allocated 25 loans for a total of $625 for this project. She committed to “buy” up to 200 comments of this post.

Elizabeth, a colleague and friend, who is also member of our Kiva team, donated $100, and as such “bought” 20 comments. Her loans are allocated in this update. In the same update, I donated $300, buying 60 comments, for 6 loans.

Our Philippines project has now allocated $1,325 already.

What is really nice to see is that more and more people start to comment this is the first time they heard about Kiva, or read or are getting involved in microfinancing. And that is exactly -apart from fundraising- what we had in mind: spread the word, mobilize people, activate their awareness of the effects and impact microfinancing has!

Update 28 Oct: 400 comments in the past 24h brings the total to 1080!

Wow! Only in the past 24 hours, we received over 400 comments, bringing the total at this moment to 1,080 comments, or US$5,400. This surpassed my wish for 1,000 comments… And we still have 3 days to go before the October 31st deadline (and that is October 31 midnight European time).

It is great to see that much activity, to hear a lot of encouragement, and compassion for the people who lost a lot due to the typhoons in the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. And it might not be the end of their misery: the fourth typhoon in less than a month is on its way to Luzon. A new typhoon could put the relief efforts in jeopardy, and endanger the lives of millions again.

On a more positive note, I thank fellow bloggers who published about our post. Quite a few people have been active on Twitter too. Kiva spread the news about our fundraiser on their blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Thank you everyone! It is nice see so much support. Maybe, maybe, my wish will come true, and we will see the microfinancing community step forward more actively in cases like the Philippines: cases where natural disasters other calamities took away the livelihood of people. Cases where we need to step up and give others an opportunity to start again.

Meanwhile, we have been dispersing new loans to the Philippines. We now stand at US$1,875 loans allocated since we started the “Typhoon Project”. In addition, members of our Kiva lenders team issued almost $1,000 new loans in the past week alone…

Update 30 Oct: Issued 42 new loans to the Philippines

While we stand at 1,200 comments (or US$6,000), I issued 42 new loans to entrepreneurs in the Philippines. This brings the total of actually issued microfinance loans in this project to a total of $3,300.

One more day to go on our fundraiser, before the deadline of Oct 31 (midnight EU time).

Update 31 Oct: Comments closed at total of 1211!

It is midnight October 31st in Europe. This fundraiser is now closed. The net results stand at 1211 valid comments (subtracting the double entries and my own comments). 1211 comments=US$6055 raised!!. This is way beyond what I had planned or believed could be possible.

Update 29 Nov: All loans are allocated!

Over the past month, I allocated the remaining $1,825 to this project. Friends from The Road’s lending team contributed another US$730, bringing the total of new loans after the typhoons to US$6,055. This matches the total amount we raised through the comments on this post.

Here is the overview of the loans:

Thank you all !

San Miguel De Ayacucho Group in Peru

Today, I got several loans repaid, so I allocated $550 new loans. This time, the accent went to women working in agriculture.

One of the new loans is to the member of the Communal Bank San Miguel de Ayacucho in Peru. They are a group of 15 people, mostly women. The community is located on the banks of the river Chacco, where most of the population is engaged in vegetable farming.

These entrepreneurs have various businesses such as selling vegetables, shoes, general groceries, beverages, transport of passengers. Their loans will be invested in buying sugar, rice, seeds, fertilizer and for payment of laborers.

An overview of the loans made today:

• Nicolasa Vasquez in Peru: $50
• Afi Kunudji in Togo: $50
• Roem Som Village women in Cambodia: $100
• San Miguel De Ayacucho group in Peru: $100
• Nay Khin Village Women in Cambodia: $100
• Felicidad Women in Bolivia: $25
• Sabati Women in Sierra Leone: $50
• Elias in Peru: $50
• Jovia Tiberindwa women in Uganda: $25

Rubelyn in the Philippines

One of our first loans to an entrepreneur in the Philippines went to Rubelyn Lumanta in Talibon. Rubelyn is a fish vendor.
She is 29 years old, married, and has 2 children. She purchases fish from fishermen in her village, and sells the fish at the market with a 40% mark-up value per kilo. Her husband, Ruel Lumanta, is a fisherman.

She requested a $400 loan to she could buy more fish to sell. Simple arithmetic: more volume, more profit.

At the time, we gave her a loan of US$50, 80% of which is already paid back.

Rubelyn stands example for hundreds of entrepreneurs in the Philippines which are being helped in helping themselves through microfinance loans.

Sloane, one of the Kiva fellows, is working in the Philippines with one of the local Kiva partners, “Ahon sa Hirap, Inc.”, or ASHI for short.

He sent in this report:

Ahon sa Hirap, Inc. translated from Tagalog to English means “to rise up from poverty” and is the oldest example of the Grameen Bank approach to microfinance in the Philippines. Kiva launched its firs venture in the Philippines in November 2008. ASHI was among the first group of microfinance institutions partners.

All new Kiva microfinance partners start in what is called “pilot status,” which is like an introduction; a “getting to know you” phase. Both Kiva and the partner institution have to make sure the relationship is going to work – after all, Kiva now has over 120 partners in more than 50 countries, and that’s a lot of different ways of doing business.

After both parties have established some internal controls, a partner can be moved to active status – which means a higher fundraising limit and a more solid partnership. I’m happy to announce that, due to hard work from the President and staff members of ASHI, Kiva has approved ASHI for active field partner status! The main way you, the lender, will be able to see the difference is through increased loans on Kiva.org over the next few months.

For the past three months, since June 2009, I have been serving at ASHI as a Kiva fellow, assisting in the transition from pilot to active status. The time has flown by and I can hardly believe that my fellowship is coming to an end. I’ve learned so much about microfinance in practice and in the field, and I wanted to share a few of my biggest takeaways with you.

Microfinance is about more than a loan. The loan is the first step, the building block, and for that, Kiva lenders, I really thank you from the bottom of my heart, and from each and every ASHI member and staff. You are the ones who turn the key in the ignition. The borrower is the driver, They have a new path in front of them that can lead them out of poverty. What do I mean by “more than a loan?” Let me tell you.

Microfinance is also structured lending. Many people in poverty can get loans from loan sharks in their town, but it’s only a loan, and it has much higher interest rates. Oftentimes, that loan would have no guaranteed terms or repayments. Someone could knock on your door and say, “Pay up today.” Microfinance changes that. It puts structure into lending for the borrowers. It introduces them to term sheets, interest rates, and responsibility. It’s not “pay when you can” but “pay weekly during a group meeting with all of the members in your neighborhood.” It’s training and retraining and “checking in” and making sure the borrowers are using the funds for their businesses and, if not, why not? How can we help? It’s caring about their future.

Microfinance is also savings, with interest rates and an opportunity to plan for the future or put away for a rainy day.

Microfinance is house repair loans when typhoons and storms sweep the country and the borrowers’ homes and huts are washed away. It’s having the capital to rebuild with stone instead of bamboo so, when they next storm arrives, your home is strong enough to withstand the winds. It’s having a home that is on solid ground and being proud of where you live.

Microfinance is educational loans and savings with better rates on interest paid and accrued. It’s an opportunity for borrowers to send their children, grandchildren, sometimes even nieces and nephews, to school.

Microfinance is life insurance policies for family members. Financial literacy classes for new members. Sustainable farming and agriculture classes. Training, tips on packaging, on taking goods to market, on how to grow your business in a way that will help lead you out of poverty.

Microfinance is community. It’s women gathering once a week to repay, discuss their business problems, and come together as a second family. Some borrowers that I’ve met joined ASHI because their husbands died and they were lonely. Some joined because, without a new primary business or ability to start a second business, their families were going to struggle to put food on the table. Some join quiet and shy and find their confidence and become leaders in their community. Many have told me they are better mothers, daughters, wives, sisters and friends because of ASHI and microfinance.

Yet, no matter WHY they joined – the result is always the same. Their lives are forever changed for having the opportunity to step up and make their lives better through business opportunities. It’s a hand up instead of a hand out. It’s strengthening the fabric of the poorest of the poor and changing the face of the economy of an entire country. Does that mean there are success stories at every turn? Not really. Most progress is slow and hard to see day-to-day. There is always struggle, always some who don’t make the right choices, always some that mean to, but can’t, and yes, always some that do. The thing to remember is that we all have to start somewhere and microfinance is a crucial stepping-stone in alleviating poverty worldwide.

Lastly, microfinance in enlightenment. It’s having a little extra change in your pocket for the first time in your life. Just imagine that for a moment. A little bit of change jingling in your pocket as you walk home from the market, and the feeling that goes with it. Microfinance is earning enough revenue to be able to afford medicine or hospital bills. It’s politicians taking notice that there is some access to capital in your town, and being motivated to have the roads paved, the schools repaired, and the community taken care of. It’s calling farmers, butchers, bakers, vendors, storeowners and craftsmen – ENTREPRENEURS.

Salamat po (Thank you),

Sloane