Fund 43 microloans through Kiva.org

Nineteen! Going back to Africa!

Lillian lives in Kampala, Uganda. She is married with three children, all of whom go to school. She takes care of one additional family member who is an orphan. She sells fruits, vegetables and sweet bananas on a wholesale basis at the market. She has been in business for the last four years. She works six days a week. She has requested a loan of 2,000,000 Ugandan shillings from MCDT SACCO to buy more boxes of fruits, vegetables and bunches of sweet bananas. Her goal and aspirations are to start going to villages for fruits like oranges, pineapples, mangoes and sweet bananas, and also to educate her children to the university level.

Well, I fully support fresh fruit and education! Go Lillian, go!

Almost to twenty. Wow.

Aramayis was born in 1960 in the village of Verin Khotanan. He has a technical degree. He served in the army for 19 years and now receives a military pension. His wife works in a store; his daughter is married and lives separately; the oldest son works as a driver, and the younger is a student at the Erevan University for Architecture and Construction. Aramayis’ mother, who is severely ill, also lives with him. Since 1996, Aramayis has been working as a farmer in the village of Vernin Khotanan. At his farm he grows vegetables raises cattle and poultry and also keeps bees. Aramayis sells vegetables, beef, milk, eggs and honey from his farm at the market of the town of Kapan, to his loyal customers. This is how he supports his family. Aramayis has to work at his farm and take care of his ailing mother on his own as the other family members are either employed elsewhere or study. Aramayis needs a loan of 500,000 AMD in order to buy an additional cow as well as hay.

And back to Uganda, Africa!

35-year-old Eric has been overseeing operations at his pub business for the last five years. Pub businesses are all the rage now in Kampala. Most pubs are driving roaring businesses with the increasing population in Kampala. Eric, too, can attest to this, as his pub is in high favor with mostly the middle class demographic. He offers a variety of both hard and soft drinks. Eric says prior to starting this business, he was more involved in a poultry business. Monthly, he says, the pub business’ gross sales income is a total of Uganda shillings 300,000. He says he intends to use this Kiva loan to purchase more crates of both hard and soft drinks to resell.

And back to Central America!


Jennifer is a 29-year-old married mother of a 6-year-old. For almost three years she has baked and sold cookies and various sweets door-to-door. Jennifer intends to use the proceeds of the loan to buy flour, sugar, and other ingredients for her business. Her dream is to grow her business until one day she can operate from a storefront.

You know me, gotta support my bakery friends!

I should get caught up on these…

Verónica is a member of the communal bank “Corazón de María” (Mary’s Heart) and lives in the Lazarete area of the city of Cuenca which is the third most important city in the country: the cradle of sports stars and writers. Its people are cordial and friendly. Verónica is 24-years-old, single, and lives in her parent’s home that they own. Her mother is a clothing seller and her father is a taxi driver. Our member sells used clothing like her mother. She has a stall in a city market. They work only two days a week from seven in the morning to four in the afternoon. The rest of the week they work in their house offering a laundry service.

I love giving loans in new countries. To Peru!

Nolberta is a member of the communal bank named “Maria Asuncion Galindo”, located in the district of Juli, the province of Chucuito-Juli, in the department of Puno. She is 50 years old, married common-law, and she has three children. She did not go to school.

She has a trout hatchery and she runs the business together with her husband. She has been with the Manuela Ramos movement (Kiva Field Partner) for the past three years. Her first loan was in the amount of S/500 nuevos soles and she used the loan to purchase balanced trout feed. The trout is sold in the community where she lives. Her clients come from Desaguadero to buy and producers sell by the kilo.

With this loan, amounting to S/1500 nuevos soles, she will purchase six sacks of feed that is 240 kg of Purina brand feed, to feed the trout that live in two basins. Her dream is to have more basins for trout. She most enjoys her communal bank for the training provided by the loan officials and the savings program.

New country: Dominican Republic! Getting closer to St. Lucia…

Luz is very excited about receiving her first loan from Esperanza International. She manages a sewing business where she makes clothes, school uniforms, and decorations. This loan will be invested in fabrics and accessories used in making a few of the products that she sells. Her earnings will be reinvested in her business because she wants to expand her sales and her product line.

Luz is part of the group “La Confianza” (Confidence) along with 14 other members. All of them sell products and merchandise either as street vendors or from their homes. Luz joined Esperanza International because she needed capital for her business. She will also be able to invest, expand her inventory, and share with the other members of her group who also want to expand their businesses as well as improve their lives and their community. Luz’s story is representative of the other members of her group and clients of Esperanza. They are Haitians (most of whom have emigrated to the Dominican Republic from Haiti, some just recently) and Dominicans who live in the poorest communities of the Dominican Republic that lack potable water and reliable electricity.

New country: Sierra Leone!

This is 35-year-old Marie Tholley. She is married and has two children, ages 8 and 12. In 2009, Marie established her cooking-utensils business. She began her business because she wanted to help her husband. Working six days a week and six hours a day, she earns about 400,000 Sierra Leone leones (Le) every month from this business.

She would like a loan in the amount of Le 4,500,000 in order to improve herself and her family. She hopes that this loan will enable her to increase her monthly profits by approximately Le 300,000. In the future, Marie Tholley plans to educate her children and buy land. She is very determined to open a store to sell wholesale to other traders. She thanks you for your support.

A new country – this one goes to the Philippines.

Josefina Cabañog is a 35-year-old single woman who supports her family by operating two business ventures: a sari-sari (general) store and an electronic re-loading business. She lives in Caragay, Brgy. Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. Josefina has been a member of NWTF-Project Dungganon since 2007 and has improved her living conditions with the help of her loans from NWTF and through her own efforts. By working hard in her sari-sari store and her electronic re-loading business, she is gradually making her family more economically stable. She now earns an average monthly income of 28,000 PHP.

Josefina is borrowing 25,000 PHP so she can purchase more stock to sell in her general store. This will be her ninth loan from NWTF-Project Dungganon. Her previous loan of 20,000 PHP which she paid off well within its term was just another step in her journey toward economic freedom. Josefina aspires to elevate her family’s living conditions and ensure their future wellbeing by following the Dungganon way.

Number 10! This one goes to the country of Colombia.

Alinsson is 32 years old and lives with his wife and their 2 children, aged 6 months and 10 years respectively, in the commercial zone of the Ciudadela 20 de Julio barrio, south of Barranquilla. He has a medicinal drug store there that he opened in 2000, the year he began his business career by distributing cheese and some varieties of merchandise.

For the last 4 years he has been involved with the Mario Santo Domingo Foundation, an organization that helped him initially with loans to sell cheese and merchandise on order. Now he has a larger business in both infrastructure and clientèle, and he has diversified his offerings, selling medicinal drugs. Alinnson has 2 employees and he sustains his business, despite fierce competition, with lower prices than competitors, because he buys at wholesale and knows where to purchase. Alinnson works from 8:00am until 9:00pm every day. Now his customers know his schedule and they seek him out and refer him to others.

Alinnson has received 8 loans and this loan request from Kiva will be his 9th. He will buy generic and commercial medicines to resupply his little pharmacy. Alinnson is very satisfied with his business and with the institutional help he has received and his level of living has improved. But he still dreams of having his own house and converting his small business into a large drug store, and this is his major challenge to accomplish a better future for his family.

As much as I’d like to get out of the pharmacy business, I felt like it was destiny.