Diop    Aug 16, 2012

Dear Zidisha lender,

It's with pleasure that I am reaching you once again for an update on my business, which has been slow to relaunch due to roof repair difficulties. However, I am hopeful that things will soon start up again. Besides that, I continue working on the side in an attempt to manage my assets until the repairs are complete. Thank you to the entire Zidisha family.

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bonjour cher preteur de zidisha
cest avec plaisir que je retouve une fois de plus pour vous donnez de mes nouvel et surtout de mon bissenes qui tarde toujour a demare a cause des probleme de refetion du toit de mon magazin mais j espere que d ici peu ca va redemare mais apart ca je fais mon petit commerce pour esseyer de gere mon capital en attendent la fin des travaux.merci a toute la famille zidisha

SEGant    Jun 9, 2012

Dear Lenders,

My name is Sam Gant I'm one of the Client Relationship Managers active in Senegal right now. On Friday June 8th I had the pleasure of meeting Gaby in his home in Parcelles, where he showed me the bar he and his brother invite their neighbors too and told me more about his future plans. Gaby is enormously popular and well-known in his neighborhood, which explains why when myself and another volunteer visited his house there was already a crew of regular patrons passing the afternoon there.

At the moment he stocks the two Senegalese national beers, Flag and Gazelle, as well as several imported wines, which they serve to neighbors and visitors in the sunny courtyard of their home. Gaby's goal is to refurbish a free-standing establishment where he can sell bottles of alcohol for carry out as well as dry goods, but he explained to me that construction was stagnant over the course of the recent elections and has only recently gotten back on track.

He anticipates completing his store within about 2 months. He remains very grateful to Zidisha lenders for their confidence and patience, and hopes to keep you apprised of further developments.

Diop    Jun 8, 2012

Hi Zidisha family,
Its with great pleasure that after 2 months of getting my loan money that I want to tell you how much I am proud of Zidisha.
With the loan money that I got from you all lenders, I started to sell alcoholic beverages and drinks as well as wine while I am waiting for the store remodeling. It should be done within two months and I will be able to really start my business like I wanted to.

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boujour la famille de zidisha
c est avec grand plaisir que je viens deux mois apres avoire recu mon premier pret vous dire combien je suis fiere de zidisha.
avec le pret que j ai recu des preteur de zidisha j ai commence a vendre de la boison alcoolise con de la biere du vin en attendent de termine les travaux de mon magasin qui doit d ici deux mois pour vraiment commencer mon commrece comme je le souhait

basmaeid    Mar 9, 2012

Another photo of Gabriel and his two sons, Emmanuel and newborn Paul Agustin!

madelinegbaker    Mar 8, 2012

Here is a picture of Gabriel and his family from our visit last week!

basmaeid    Mar 7, 2012

Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting Gabriel and his family in their home in Parcelles Assainies, a suburb of Dakar. Gabriel graciously invited us (2 volunteers and 2 interns) into his home where we were introduced to his family. Gabriel's wife just recently gave birth to their third child, Paul Augustin who is but one month old. They have two other children; Emmanuel who is about 6 and Georgette who is 10.

It was a particularly opportune visit as it was while we were in Gabriel's company that he learned that his loan had been met in full! It was extremely exciting to be with him and his family at such a joyous time. What's more is that his brother Dominique ,another Zidisha borrower, also found out that his loan had been completed as well. Gabriel was so surprised to find out that he had earned 100% because when he had checked his status the night before he was only at 4%!

With his loan, Gabriel is now able to purchase additional merchandise specific to his clientele and will thus be able to increase his capital to support his growing family. In addition to selling alcohol, Gabriel now hopes to be able to sell meat, other deli products.

Sander    Feb 21, 2012

Salut Diop,
Je comprends bien pourquoi tu as besoin de ces fonds, il faut toujours avoir de capital pour faire tourner la marchandise... J'éspère qu'avec ce petit coup de pouce tu reussiras... Je me demande seulement si l'offre de 0% aux preteurs Zidisha etait une choix deliberee, ou si tu as tout simplement oublié d'y entrer quelques pourcents? Comme tu dis, t'en as besoin au plus vite possible, donc si tu veux que les preteurs investissent vite, il faut aussi leur donner un petit quelque chose ;)
Bien à toi,
Sander