New KIVA loans: 50 reached!!!

Another round of payoffs have freed up some funds for new loans from prior subscriber contributions. I have two new loans to make to bring the total of loans offered to 50! You can see where this money has been allocated and it is all thanks to the support of my subscribers.

The first loan is to the Stage Hera Kende Self-Help Group

Solomon has been in the business of buying second-hand clothing in bulk and retailing the same. He is married with 4 children who are all school-going. He buys the clothes in bulk from Nairobi and transports them to Kisumu for retailing. He has been in this business for over 5 years now. One of his primary motivations for choosing this business is because of the readily available market due to the high poverty levels in Kisumu town.
He buys his stock every 2 weeks and sells the clothing not only in Kisumu Town but also in neighboring markets on the outskirts of Kisumu. He goes to these markets on their specific market days.

The post-election violence in Kisumu Town affected him negatively as it meant he couldn’t sell his clothes for quite sometime. There was, however, an opportunity for him as well in this situation since most people now can’t afford to buy new clothes and have to rely on second-hand clothes for survival. He hopes to take advantage of this opportunity by taking a refinanced loan to enable him to carry on with his earlier business. His business had been making profits before the violence enabling him to frequently restock his business and pay his loan as well. His loan repayments have been on schedule and so have been the group repayments.

He has been the secretary for his group and has done a good job particularly in ensuring that the group has its loan balances kept intact. The group has also been cohesive and with good repayment rates before the post-election violence. They see the refinancing as an opportunity to get back to their normal business state as soon as possible.

In addition to being cohesive, the group has had good repayment rates in earlier loans and have been having timely meeting on their rescheduled meeting days. Solomon, in addition to his secretarial duties, has played a huge role in energizing the group through constant faith-based encouragements during the violence period.

Disclaimer: Kiva is working with OI-WEDCO to refinance businesses disrupted by Kenya's post-election violence. The group above has received loans from OI-WEDCO in the past and is now working to rebuild their businesses and to get back on their feet. Due to recent events in Kenya, the security situation in many communities remains unsettled, affecting many local businesses. Lenders to this entrepreneur should be aware that this loan may represent a higher default risk, and should be willing to accept this additional risk in making their loan.

The second loan goes to Matilda John

Matilda John, age 40, is married and has four children (ages 22, 20, 17, and 13). She has a salon and a charcoal business which she started 3 years ago. She works from 6am to 9pm daily and is able to make a monthly profit of about $121.
Matilda has taken out two previous loans from Tujijene Tanzania to start a charcoal business. She hopes for a new loan to open a stationery shop.

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