James    Jul 1, 2014

Je suis impressionné par votre entreprise Combe. Je fais de l'artisanat des affaires ici au Kenya.

Combé    Jan 29, 2013

I apologize for the delay in payment, it is due to late payment by customers who bought a lot of my goods. Because the year has ended, my customers are about to regulate their account balance, but they promised to pay me the end of January, or latest by mid-February 2013. It is at that time that I expect to receive the money and I can make repayments. Thank you for your understanding.

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Je m'excuse de ce retard de paiement, cela est due au retard de paiement des clients qui ont beaucoup de mes marchandises. Etant en fin d'année? les clients sont entrain d'effectuer des régularisation de leur compte bilan, mais ils m'ont promis de me payer la fin du mois de janvier c'est à dire d'ici mi-février 2013. c'est à cette période que je compte recevoir de l'argent et je pourrai effectuer les versements. Merci de votre compréhension.

Combé    Jan 28, 2013

Je m'excuse de ce retard de paiement, cela est due au retard de paiement des clients qui ont beaucoup de mes marchandises. Etant en fin d'année? les clients sont entrain d'effectuer des régularisation de leur compte bilan, mais ils m'ont promis de me payer la fin du mois de janvier c'est à dire d'ici mi-février 2013. c'est à cette période que je compte recevoir de l'argent et je pourrai effectuer les versements. Merci de votre compréhension.

SEGant    May 31, 2012

I met with Combe on May 30th at the bustling market of Grand Yoff, where she had been making deliveries to hospitals in the area, and then accompanied her by taxi out to her home in Golf-Camberene. Combe lives in a quiet neighborhood outside of Dakar, and on the long ride over she explained to me that after the initial expenses of purchasing medical supplies in bulk from the distributor, her next biggest cost is transportation. Hospitals in the Dakar area tend to be understocked, and so Combe frequently has to make deliveries at a moments notice to replenish emergency rooms across the city. She repays her loan in fluctuating quantities depending on when the hospitals reimburse her for her deliveries.

She expressed a great deal of gratitude to the lenders of Zidisha for allowing her to benefit from economies of scale, because her bulk purchases require her to have access to significant amounts of capital from day-to-day. Her home is cozy and well-equipped, a clear testament to how much access to microfinance has improved her ability to succeed as an independent entrepreneur. She plans to update lenders over the next few days with more precise examples of how she realizes a profit by purchasing in bulk and then delivering medical supplies.

Combé    May 30, 2012

Good eveining partners,

I am very glad to work with you, zidisha's loan have helped me so much for my business (sell of materials for hospitals)
It let me strenghten the working capital (because for the orders, I unlock money, like 300.000 to 500.000 plus the freight too) and I am then paid by the structure

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bonsoir chers partenaires
je très heureuse de travailler avec vous , car les prêts de zidisha m'ont beaucoup aidé dans de cadre de mon travail (la vente du matériel dans les hôpitaux et cliniques)
ça m'a permis de de renforcer mon fond de roulement ( car pour les commende je debloque un peu d'argent exemple 300 000 à environ 500 000 et il ya le transport aussi ) et un moi apres la structure me paie

• L

  Lizzy88    Jun 14, 2012

  Your business sounds fascinating! It sounds as if the work you do will benefit many others in your community.
  
  Good luck for the future.

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• Combé    Jun 18, 2012

  bjour cher partenaire de ZIDHISHA
  Je les chose ne bouge pas beaucoups pour le pret car j'ai vraiment besoin de ce pret pour acheter des produit car je deja parlé avec mes fournisseur et je n'attent que vous si non je vais ratter le coup,
  bouger un peu de votre coté .
  merci et un réponse s'il vs plait

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GarcharJ    Oct 14, 2011

My name is Jenna Garchar and I am currently one of Zidisha’s Client Relations interns here in Dakar. Today, I went with two volunteers to visit Combé at her home in the coastal neighborhood of Parcelles. We sat and spoke with her in her bedroom before sitting down with her and her family to eat Yassa Jen (a delicious Senegalese dish with rice, fish and onion sauce). Combé and her family are such warm, welcoming and friendly people.

BUSINESS
Combé buys medical supplies and sells them to clinics and hospitals around Dakar. She sells to about 6 clinics, including Clinique Cheikh Anta Diop and her main purchaser, Clinique Mamelle. When we first arrived at her house, she took us immediately to see her storage room in her home. The room was filled with boxes of an assortment of medical supplies. Combé sells a variety of supplies, from antibiotics for infections to catheters to wipes for newborns. Her most popular products are IV supplies, in particular bottles of IV fluid.

IMPACT OF LOAN
Because of her loan, Combé has been able to buy a large variety of products and keep a supplied stockroom. She said she is making a profit each month, and her money stays in a cycle of buying products and both selling and stocking them. Right now, she said she has around 1 or 2 million CFA worth of products in her storeroom.

After showing us her products, Combé took us to her bedroom where she showed us all her invoices and receipts from previous transactions. She is an extremely organized and efficient businesswoman! She has spreadsheets for each month that show the exact products she sold, where she sold the products, the quantities of products, her buying price, her selling price, each product’s earnings and her total earnings for that month. For example, in June she had around 800,000 CFA in earnings and in July she had 669,710 CFA in earnings.

The loan has had a positive economic impact on her loan as well as on her family. We met Combé’s adorable 5-year-old son when he came home from school for lunch. With the help of the loan, Combé has been able to continue to support her family.

FUTURE
In the future, Combé plans to continue buying and selling medical supplies for clinics around Dakar. One of her goals is to be able to purchase a car to carry supplies to clinics and hospitals. Right now, she must pay around 7000CFA for a taxi to drive her around to clinics. Having a car would save money and increase profits because she would be able to drive downtown where there are more clinics and hospitals. She said she could even expand her business to towns outside of Dakar like Thies and Mbour.

Another goal is to sell surgical suture for stitches because a large market exists in Dakar. Combé explained that stitches are always in demand because people need them for a wide variety of reasons from having a bad cut to cesarean sections. Combé said that right now most of the thread in Dakar comes from China and is not the best quality. Her goal would be to work with an outside partner to import high quality surgical suture to sell to clinics and hospitals. She also explained the efficiency of the products’ weight and size for storage. Combé has great ideas for her business and seems passionate about continuing to improve her earnings by expanding her market.

smonroe    Aug 3, 2010

Combe spent most of her loan on IV fluids (pictured in the red and blue bottles), commodities desperately needed and demanded across all of Senegal.

smonroe    Aug 3, 2010

Combe's assistant Amadou showing off all the medication Combe successfully purchased with her Zidisha loan.

smonroe    Aug 3, 2010

Last thursday I visited Combe Thiaw at her clinic. Thanks to her lenders, Combe has filled her inventory and her business is thriving.

   Jun 16, 2010

Hello, everybody. I have just confirmed the disbursement of Combé Thiaw's loan.

Bonjour; tous le monde; Je viens confirmer le décaissement du prêt de Combé Thiaw

• Thomas    Jun 17, 2010

  Is this temporary? Will Combe resubmit for another loan? (this loan has been listed as 'cancelled')

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  • Combé    Jun 18, 2010

    No, i do not cancel my loan, I made a mistake when I wan to click on "accept bids"
    thank you for asking this question, because i have not see like I have make this mistake

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    • IJAZBOF    Sep 16, 2010

      How has the loan helped you. Has your quality of life improved as a result of the loan?

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      • Combé    Sep 17, 2010

        Hello IJZABOF, how are you doing?
        Of course the loan has helped my business - I bought new products like IV packets of Redon. Profits from these sales has made life much easier for my family.

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        salut IJAZBOFcomment vous allez, bien sur que le bret avait bien contribuer dans mes avtivités(car j'ai acheté des produit comme des flacon de redon
        je me sens beaucoup à laise surtout avec la famille

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susanmcconnell    Jun 6, 2010

I like Combé Thiaw's business model because it will help so many. I like that EXPONENTIAL aspect.

mackmcconnell    Jun 3, 2010

Yesterday, I met with Combé Thiaw and Makha Sarr Diop who make up the administration of a small private health clinic called “la Clinique Medico Chirurgicale” in the Sacré Coeur neighborhood of Dakar. The clinic provides general care but specializes in complex joint-replacement surgery. They were eager to show me around their clinic. On one hand, it was clear that they were deeply proud of the hospital’s work. On the other, it was clear that their minds were fixed on the future and the growth they hope to experience.

Philosophy:

The clinic has a strong belief in charging the client based on their ability to pay. Very rarely, according to M. Diop, do those who seek care get turned away. Their priority to provide care over maximizing their bottom line was refreshing to see in practice, especially in a country with so many health needs. Often, people travel great distances (as far as Mauretania) to seek their specialized care.

Business:

The hospital has seen significant success from being a reseller of pharmaceutical products to other clinics, hospitals and pharmacies under the direction of Madame Thiaw. There is a wide variety of things she sells, but she specializes in low-margin items like I.V. equipment, sterilization tools and disposables. They have been successful at using the sales of these pharmaceutical products to subsidize other parts of the hospital (i.e. development, hiring new staff, providing better care to those who need and can’t afford it). Currently, the demand is larger than their supply and she seek funding to become a more effective reseller. She has five consistent customers and is confident she can easily capture more.

Impact of the loan:

Once complete, the loan will help them to seek new customers and better serve the ones they already have. This will allow them to have a larger offering of pharmaceutical products (higher-margin products) and buy the lower-margin products, from the wholesaler, in bulk to save costs. The ability to subsidize the rest of the hospital’s operations this way will allow them to follow their philosophy of providing cheap, high-quality care to those who seek financial aid while using their services.

Because the pharmaceutical product sales are backed by a larger institution with consistent revenue (the clinic), they have assured me that they will have no problem paying back the loan and are eager to get financed as soon as possible.

mackmcconnell    Jun 3, 2010

Hey, everybody. My name is Mack. I’m here in the Dakar region of Senegal as Zidisha’s Africa-based Client Relationship Manager. I have been familiar with Zidisha for some time now and wanted to see what the organization is all about from the borrower perspective.

I have been meeting with Zidisha’s clients to understand their stories and help them connect with our lenders. Also, I’ll also be adding new entrepreneurs to the site as time goes on.

As you know, Zidisha’s model works best when there’s a direct dialogue between borrower and lender – I’m here to encourage this! In the meantime, I’ll be posting stories, photos/videos about their businesses and everyday lives to help bring them a little closer to you.