Support below bread line small businesses

Entrepreneur

About Me

I have been a Programmes Manager for a Charity that funds education for needy children for a period of 7 years. What inspired me during these years of work is that the goal was to fund these children to the highest level of education in order they may get skilled and get a job and be able to support their poor families. Kenyan system of education takes 16 years for one to graduate then no guarantee of a job, one has to tarmac and get one. My dilemma was, can these poor parents wait for that long to get support from their child/children? While it was a noble idea for the charity to educate these students, the parents needed immediate relief from their poverty stricken lives! They needed to be given their flowers now! Spot on! I knew small loans concept was the way to go for these parents, since main stream banks and micro finance institutions were above par for them as they didn't have any form of collateral. Someone needed to trust and invest in them! Having interacted with over 500 parents, I knew I was that someone! My business was thus born in the year 2010.

My Business

I registered Mizizi Community Organization and under its umbrella I started lending small loans as little as $10 from my savings. I group them in tens and the concept is to co-guarantee each other hence become your brother’s keeper thus loan defaulting is not a factor. The group members must come from the same locality thus they know each other well plus where each resides. They meet per week, meeting point going in rotation in each member’s house. Depending with ones loan, they pay in weekly installments for a period of six months. A member, depending with the business income per day can pay within two or three months and apply a fresh loan. They also save $1 each weekly in the group’s savings account which forms as collateral to pay for a member’s installment in case they may be sick or have issues that are acceptable to the group. So to speak, the savings acts as a bail out of members when they fall short of cash hence ensuring loans installments for Mizizi are paid up every meeting day of the week. The loans have small interest fee to pay administration costs and incidentals there from. An officer to guide them attends these weekly meetings to collect the payments for banking and also answer various questions members may have. The officer also collects new loan application forms which are brought to the office for checking, authorization and disbursement through mobile money transfer mode called MPESA. Money is a scarce commodity world over hence my client base has grown thus demand has grown too.
With time I quit my mainstream job and started running my business full time. I am very grateful to God as I have seen many poor families getting transformed and their small businesses growing and getting out of the bracket of “below bread line.” Extremely rewarding!

Loan Proposal

With $380 I will lend to four women who have reached a level of $100 each. Each lady will pay with an interest of 25%, i.e. total payment will be $125 for a maximum period of 6 months and a minimum period of 12 weeks. Therefore payment is dictated by the income received from the business per day as profit. Monthly installments per person will be approximately $21. Weekly installment will be $5.25. One of the ladies to benefit from this funding is Fatuma, featured in my loan page doing business of briquette. Her business has grown tremendously as source of fuel is expensive and she has provided a very good alternative to the low end income earners.

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