Miriam    Sep 10, 2013

hi zidisha team, i have visited Esther Muthoni and found that she has been seriously sick for the last two months that is why she has not been able to pay her loan. she is now recovering and has told me that she will resume her payment in October.

Miriam

Esther Muthoni    Jun 11, 2013

Hi Zidisha team, i hope you are all fine. in Mombasa we are fine. i wanted to make a kind request to pay my loan on 17th of July 2013 instead of 17th June 2013.
i have relocated my business to upcountry and its just a month old and has not picked up yet. it actually requires more capital so for this month of June please understand me.
thank you for your patience.

Esther Muthoni    May 3, 2013

Hi all Zidisha team and lenders, i trust that you are well. Am OK and working on the relocation of my business. As i had earlier posted my requested to the loan payment reschedule on April 30th,2013, am yet to get your response on the request. Kindly respond. Thank you.

Esther Muthoni    Apr 30, 2013

Hello,Kenya has now stabilised politically we thank God.Am also very grateful for understanding my position but I want to let you know that am relocating my cyber and Mpesa business to my hometown in Embu county, starting may 2013 and at the same time taking my children back to school,with those issues I reschedule my loan payment to the 17th May 2013.From then I will be totally able to make my payments on time.Thankyou for understanding.

Esther Muthoni    Mar 16, 2013

hi zidisha community, i would like to really appreciate you for sending Neil to come and visit us down here in Mombasa. he has been of great help to us especially in clearing things that we had questions on. his visitation to us was so encouraging.
again we are so great full

Esther Muthoni    Mar 16, 2013

hi,
i would like to reschedule my loan because i have just realized that i gave the wrong date on my previous reschedule which i had stated to be on 4th April 2013 which is sooner than what was in my plans according to the current business status. kindly change it to May 4th 2013 and i will appreciate.

Esther Muthoni    Mar 12, 2013

hi, i would like to forward my request for my loan reschedule to the 4th of April. this is because there was a misunderstanding of when i should start paying my loan. i thought i should start paying in February. also the resent election had some impact on the business because we had to close the shop due to the tension that was there. i hope to reopen the shop shortly after the new president elect is sworn in and the tension is over.
thank you for your patience.

adventurerneil    Mar 11, 2013

Greetings lenders! My name is Neil, and I am a Client Relationship Manager with Zidisha in Kenya.

I wanted to share a neat story with you involving Easther. Today, something happened that I think really speaks to the trust and strength of the Zidisha community.

I met with Easther and a few of her fellow Zidisha friends in downtown Mombasa this afternoon. We had been introducing ourselves for only maybe 15 minutes when an older white woman who appeared quite stressed out approached us and interrupted our meeting. She said she had been staying in Diani Beach (some 20km south of Mombasa, where I was staying recently), and that her wallet had been stolen from her hotel room. Thus leaving her stranded, without money, and not knowing anyone at all in a chaotic foreign city. She was looking to fly back to South Africa, her home, as soon as possible - her vacation obviously having been cut short in a very unpleasant way.

She at first asked for help getting a money transfer from home, something that is apparently not very fast or easy here. Our group of women borrowers made some calls and tried their best to help her in this task. After following their advice, she came back from a bank very exasperated at the fact that they all seemed to require having a bank account with them to do any sort of transfer, and that the transfer would take 3+ days. She said she was going to the airport, and was just going to live there for a few days until the transfer could come through. At this point, I offered to pay for her to stay at my hostel, because it's quite cheap. She declined, but thanked me for the offer.

We eventually ascertained that she could rebook her flight for $40, and that if she left soon, she could make the evening flight on her booked airline to South Africa, with the next flight on that airline not leaving until Thursday.

With none of us having that much cash, I asked the group of women if I could repay them, and have one of them procure the cash immediately. Without really batting an eye, Easther volunteered, and asked us to accompany her to her office a few floors higher in the same building. From there, we were able to accompany her to a direct airport shuttle going straight to the airport from downtown. She didn't even have enough money for the shuttle, so I gave her enough to cover that, too. She thanked us profusely, and we swapped contact information. I got back and looked her up online, and indeed it seems like she's an upstanding and successful business woman in South African tourism. I sent an e-mail offering to help her follow up with local police or hotel management, should she desire.

I thought this was worth sharing, because although Kenya is rife with sophisticated scam artists and people constantly asking for money, we all decided to trust our gut instincts and band together to help this woman, who otherwise might have faced many more difficult and unpleasant experiences trying to get home.

Let's all thank and congratulate Easther, who is model for the community! I'll also attach a photo of Easther and her daughter - delighted to have met each of you today!

• S

  Sandi    Mar 11, 2013

  Amazing story. Thank you, Ms. Erasmus for bringing more goodness to the world!

  Log in to reply • Share

Esther Muthoni    Nov 5, 2012

Hello zidisha community,I am happy that the loan has helped me accomplish my target of having enough float on my mpesa line before the year comes to an end.As this is the approach of the festive season when everyone will want to send money home to there loved ones ,,,im so happy i will be of help as i make business as well.Thank you so much for the loan.

Esther Muthoni    Nov 3, 2012

Thank you so much for funding my loan.Many thanks to cynthia nduku johnah who introduced me to Zidisha.i am going to pay this loan as promptly as i can because i cant afford messing a chance like this.My business will never be the same again.I will introduce my friends to zidisha because i have a crowd that is trustworthy.thanks.

hugh1    Oct 29, 2012

Hello Esther. I was glad to see that your loan was fully funded, and I hope that it will help you to develop your business in the way that you want. Good luck!

• Esther Muthoni    Oct 29, 2012

  thank you so much hugh1.

  Log in to reply • Share

Esther Muthoni    Oct 26, 2012

Lenders am on my knees...kindly fund my loan.thanks for the continued effort

Esther Muthoni    Oct 24, 2012

hello lenders,kindly fund my loan.time is up and its not fully funded.kindly i beg .

Esther Muthoni    Oct 22, 2012

Thank you johnfay for taking an intiative to fund me.Thanks

Esther Muthoni    Oct 18, 2012

im patiently waiting upon you lenders to grant me this wonderful opportunity.

Esther Muthoni    Oct 16, 2012

Esther im happy.i cant believe this is happening to me so fast.The rates are wonderful and the speed of funding is impressing.Thank you very much lenders.

• S

  Sandi    Oct 16, 2012

  Best wishes for you & your family!

  Log in to reply • Share

  • Esther Muthoni    Oct 17, 2012

    Thank you very much sandi for believing in me.I have been frustrated previously by our banks because the interest rates are too high.Every time i get a loan,i use the money in my business but the change is little because they give no grace period and the rates are just awful.when i learn t about zidisha,i was full of joy because now i know i have been saved.I always thank Cynthia for introducing me to zidisha because if it where not for her,i would not know about it.I'm eagerly looking forward to getting that loan because i know it will have a positive impact on my business.

    Log in to reply • Share