From exclusion to active participation in their own development
business development services, loans, training, helpful marketing information. The difference of our program is that we provide support to excluded groups, mainly women with few resources and who have no access to the financial market due to a lack of guarantees. We help them manage small business initiatives, which in the majority of cases they need for survival. The impact is really amazing, the female clients of this micro-financing program have succeeded in overcoming extreme poverty. This has been corroborated by testimonials from various loan recipients who have been working with this women?s bank for the last five, six, seven years. The innovation consists in being as the name implies an institution that mainly helps women, with market interest rates and with continual support in training women on how to manage their business and the advantages of having a good credit culture. One of the requirements for the loan is that school aged children must be enrolled at school, vaccination certificates for children under the age of three must be presented as well as a examination record card for pregnant women.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sector of activity
Financial Services
Other sector of activity
On the mosaic diagram, which of these factors is the primary focus of your work?
Factor
Limited purchasing power of individual clients
Principle
Leverage the power of communities as both consumers and producers
I think that for this current experience, the Mosaic diagram takes into account the factors that are the focus of our work.
Name Your Project
From exclusion to active participation in their own development
Describe Your Idea
business development services, loans, training, helpful marketing information. The difference of our program is that we provide support to excluded groups, mainly women with few resources and who have no access to the financial market due to a lack of guarantees. We help them manage small business initiatives, which in the majority of cases they need for survival. The impact is really amazing, the female clients of this micro-financing program have succeeded in overcoming extreme poverty. This has been corroborated by testimonials from various loan recipients who have been working with this women?s bank for the last five, six, seven years. The innovation consists in being as the name implies an institution that mainly helps women, with market interest rates and with continual support in training women on how to manage their business and the advantages of having a good credit culture. One of the requirements for the loan is that school aged children must be enrolled at school, vaccination certificates for children under the age of three must be presented as well as a examination record card for pregnant women.
Innovation
Description of your products or services:
business development services, loans, training, helpful marketing information. The difference of our program is that we provide support to excluded groups, mainly women with few resources and who have no access to the financial market due to a lack of guarantees. We help them manage small business initiatives, which in the majority of cases they need for survival. The impact is really amazing, the female clients of this micro-financing program have succeeded in overcoming extreme poverty. This has been corroborated by testimonials from various loan recipients who have been working with this women?s bank for the last five, six, seven years. The innovation consists in being as the name implies an institution that mainly helps women, with market interest rates and with continual support in training women on how to manage their business and the advantages of having a good credit culture. One of the requirements for the loan is that school aged children must be enrolled at school, vaccination certificates for children under the age of three must be presented as well as a examination record card for pregnant women.
Description of the operational model:
the loan model on offer to women with low incomes is mainly given through credit to solidarity groups in agreement with the following process: -in the selection process: each group is constituted by agreement of the people within; external pressure from individuals or institutions is non-existent; helping to overcome the client?s lack of information. -Concerning guarantees: the group is committed to pay or to assist when a member of the group cannot afford repayment. In this way it is possible to overcome difficulties linked to the lack of real guarantees of commercial value and quick execution. -terms and conditions: incentives and sanctions (for example ?a group that does not pay will not be eligible for future loans?) are important elements for individuals to take responsibility in choosing the other parties of the group. The whole process is accompanied by continuous training on the subjects of business management and credit culture. In addition we supply information on profitable offers, market prices and suppliers transport service offers among others.
Impact
Description of the financial model:
the women?s bank is part of a program managed by ONGD IDESPA Apur?mac and supported by two female financiers from international cooperation. This program is to date self-sustaining:15 employees, ranging from professionals and technical staff, rent and maintenance, services, etc, all are paid with its own income. The following mechanisms were adopted to ensure that people with low incomes could access the program: -use of microcredit technology for solidarity groups, applied with success by the local credit organization. Shared responsibility for the debt of the other parties of the group is one of the main characteristics of the solidarity groups. -individual microcredit: this consists in authorizing micro credits to those individuals who fulfill the established requisites and guarantees. These are freely available and the borrower decides on how best to use the resources. The loan is used as an instrument for the development of marginalized women and IDESPA puts forward the notion of strengthening female participation. Client fees represent this approximate percentage of operational budget: 0%
Client fees represent this approximate percentage of operational budget:
0%
Key operational partnership:
definitely one of the key partners in this program and its success was the invaluable contribution from the female financiers who contributed the seed money to start up the activities. The other key participants are the clients who have grown little by little thanks to their good credit culture and who currently manage small businesses that are on the path to success. Starting this micro-financing project was a big challenge. In the beginning we did not believe it would be successful but nevertheless, thanks to the great spirit that women have to overcome obstacles we pushed on and continue to persevere to this day. The number of women helped by this program has grown amazingly and there are currently many people who thanks to their determination and continuous work have managed to emerge from their condition of extreme poverty.
Current outreach:
We are at the Scaling Up stage. The program is self-sustaining and reaches acceptable levels of annual capitalization. It was difficult in the beginning, but as we carried on with what we believed in, the endeavor crystallized into something very interesting. There are many testimonials of how the women overcame their exclusion and poverty and became the main source of support for their families. The personnel working on the program have specialized in the technology to manage the program and have become important allies for the clients. They are now confident enough despite the problems and the unforeseen events to trust the women?s bank to understand them and offer alternatives to help them overcome their difficulties.
How many clients have benefited from your product/service in total? Over the last year?:
We currently have a portfolio of 700 active clients, 10% of which have been clients for seven or more years, 20% for more than five years and 50% for three years. The remaining percentage concerns clients of two years or less.
What percentage of your clients is below the poverty line ($2 per day)?
30% Approximately 30% of our clients are on the poverty line and despite this they are borrowers with low arrears levels, thanks to the tailor-made products for each of the social classes who access the program. We are currently proving a theory developed a few years ago, IT IS POSSIBLE TO WORK AND BE SUCCESSFUL WITH A VERY POOR POPULATION.
What is the order of magnitude of the potential demand for your products or services? Which other low-income groups, countries or regions could benefit from it? Try to quantify (number of clients, market size in currency).
Within the intervention area of the program, there is an unsatisfied demand which is basically due to the lack of employment and the insufficient ability of the state to cover acutely felt requirements as shown by various polls undertaken by NGOs in 2004. We consider that the unsatisfied demand reaches 80% and our program is still too small to address this demand. We consider that in five years we will cover 15% of this demand.
Scale-up strategy:
How many low-income individuals do you plan to benefit in three years from now? How are you planning to scale up or replicate your solution? What are the major constraints to scale up?
We consider that in the following three years will be able to cover 25% more of this demand, which in terms of figures will represent an approximate total of 1225 clients. The way in which we aim to expand the service is by using the capitalization as a step up to a financial facility and channel these resources with loans and donations that we believe we will receive. The ONGD is constantly making proposals to international cooperation and to other second level institutions to acquire donations and/or capital loans in order to grow and deliver services to an even higher number of clients.
Which specific areas - and why - in your field would benefit most from investment by corporations, foundations, and other investors:
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
The organization: How does the initiative fit with your overall organization's strategic goals and priorities? How did the initiative start?
This initiative is part of the strategic goals of the organization based on the application of strategic objectives, the vision and the mission that can be found in the Institutional Strategic Plan. This initiative started up a few years ago whilst working with an organized group of women and we shared their problems in order to generate income in one way or another.
Organization's legal status:
Registered at APCI
Number of Employees:
20
There is no activity associated with this entry
