Mrs Khiev Orn –Seilanithih Limited, Cambodia

Mrs. Khiev Orn and her husband have five children in the village of Sre Preal, located in the Cambodian province of Kampong Cham. She is a farmer and she harvests and sells the nuts from cashew trees that grow in three hectares of land. Mrs. Khiev Orn took a loan of $1,200 from the microfinance institution Seilanithih in order to invest in her growing and selling enterprise. Now, Mrs. Orn and her husband enjoy a better quality of life, they don’t have to use the money from their savings, they are able to pay 10 laborers, buy fertilizers and other necessities for her crop.

Seilanithih has been an Oikocredit project partner since 2007, and it offers loans and savings products to both rural and urban poor to help them improve their income-generating projects. For clients who work in agriculture, such as Mrs Khiev Orn, Seilanithih aims to help increase their production, sale volumes and overall living standard.

Adama Diarra – Soro Yiriwaso, Association de Crédit, Mali

Adama Diarra is a 52 year old mother of four. She is the owner of both a cookie business and a hectare of peanuts in the village of Dafara, Mali. Adama has been a client of Soro Yiriwaso since 2007, when she took her first loan of XOF 50,000 (about $85) in order to expand her cookie business. Before, she could only sell her cookies once a day, but since she began working with Soro, Adama has increased her production such that her cookies are sold in the morning and in the afternoon, in both the local school and the local market. Adama is a financially independent woman. She saves and borrows money to reinvest in her business, and now is able to send her four children to school and is capable of buying them better clothing.

Soro Yiriwaso has been an Oikocredit partner since 2006. It focuses on low-income women in Mali. It provides both individual and group loans while adapting to the needs of more than 40,000 clients.

Ludmila – Gromada Agricultural Cooperative, Ukraine

Ludmila Borrover-Klimenko has a greenhouse farm in southern Ukraine, where she is a client of Gromada Agricultural Cooperative. Gromada is part of a credit union that serves clients by making loans and taking deposits for farmers in the region. Gromada also provides business advisory services and children’s services for farming families in rural areas.  Southern Ukraine is known throughout Eastern Europe for its rich soil and superior produce. Ludmila and her family cultivate tomato plants, bell peppers, and water melon. As one of the more successful and accomplished farmers in her community, Ludmila helps train other farmers and clients of Gromada. Her loan of 3,000 Euros helped her purchase baby plants to cultivate and build a greenhouse to augment her growing season during Ukraine’s frigid winters. She has also installed a drip irrigation season that further lengthens the growing season.

 

Anne & Philip - Jitegemea Credit Scheme, Kenya

Anne Wangoi Mjan is an example of a strong and independent woman in Nairobi, Kenya. She has owned her own business since 1996. Anne makes handles for baskets and boxes using materials that she purchased with a loan from Jitegemea Credit Scheme, or JCS. Jitegemea’s name means “Depend on yourself.”

JCS targets the slums of Nairobi, a large and sprawling big city in southern Kenya. Founded in 1998, the microfinance institution provides small loans to 8,000 people who had no access to traditional forms of credit. More recently, the organization has expanded to rural parts of Kenya, to provide similar services to the people living there. JSC has become an active participant in measuring the social impact on its clients lives. JCS has excelled in adapting its products and services to meet the client needs.

In mid-2010, Oikocredit provided training for several partners to pilot improvements in Social performance management. JSC became involved, and has worked with Oikocredit to improve its tracking and monitoring of clients economic progress through infrastructural developments encouraged and facilitated by Oikocredit. Now JSC trains its loan officers to obtain a better insight into the real lives of clients by getting to know them socially, rather than simply disbursing a loan.

Philip Mwema owns his own business and has a loan from JCS. “Before we had money scarcity, but now my wife is proud of me.” Philip has always depended on himself, as the Jitegemea name suggests – but through his assistance from JCS, that dependence comes much easier these days.

 

Edgar – Coopetarrazú, Costa Rica

Edgar comes from a family of coffee growers. His entire life, he has been part of the cooperative organization Coopetarrazú, of which his father was a founding member. When Edgar was a boy, he and his father would have to walk 23 kilometers to the nearest collection center, with their coffee harvest on the backs of horses. Today Coopetarrazú has a center just two miles from Edgar’s plantation.

Since 1960, Coopetarrazú  has truly made a positive impact, both on the coffee industry and the environment. The cooperative processes and commercializes the coffee production of more than 2,400 farmers, and manages supermarkets, sale of agriculture materials and pre-financing of harvests. Working with Coopetarrazú means that Edgar’s beans have been certified fair trade and he receives a premium price for them. The coop’s sustainability program has taught him new techniques that protect both the environment and his workers.

Edgar’s dream for his nine children is that they will someday run and improve the family business. His two oldest children already work alongside their father. The others attend schools supported by Coopetarrazú. A distance-learning high school program also backed by the coop will allow them to complete their basic education and have the possibility to go on to college. Without his coffee plantation and the help of Coopetarrazú, Edgar would have limited means to support his large family. Instead he is a proud father and successful business owner.