The following story is submitted on behalf of Esperanza International, the interview was conducted by volunteer Travis Vaughan. Shely comes from a highly impoverished community on the north coast of the Dominican Republic; she is a Haitian immigrant.

Shely Perez has been an extremely influential leader her community, encouraging other women and small business owners to become involved with Esperanza. She says that in the past, many of her community members have been tentative about taking out loans due to the usurious interest charged by local loan sharks, but that they have all been appreciative and grateful for the opportunities Esperanza has brought them.

Shely has been with Esperanza for a bit more than a year, and has been an example of success and hope for many of the women her community, La Cienega, located on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic.

When Shely is not out selling clothes, she is attending the many needs of her seven children. She shares the responsibilities of earning an income for the family and caring for her children with her husband Chichi — as such, when Shely is at home taking care of the kids, Chichi works in construction, building small homes in their community. Shely has found that she has best been able to give back to her community by teaming up with other women from her Bank of Hope to provide business mentoring to those living nearby.

While receiving only a middle-school education before becoming a mother at the age of fourteen, Shely nevertheless has a natural knack for understanding business. The concept of profits and losses, recognizing a market, keeping detailed records, and the importance of savings all seem to come naturally to her. While thousands of women sell clothing in the streets of the Dominican Republic, Shely has found her niche selling used men’s clothing. By selling used clothing that consistently looks new, and for a lower price, she has been able to rise above the majority of the competition and be one of the most successful clothes vendors in her community. A recent loan enabled her to purchase a motorcycle, which in turn has vastly increased her ability to reach new communities, and attract more customers. Her wise investment in a motorcycle coupled with her ability to secure a niche in the used clothes market has allowed her to establish relationships with clients whom not only expect her regularly, but whom also bring new business to her and bolster her reputation. This type of success and growth has set her apart from the many competitors in the clothing sales industry.

Shely was elected as the bank president (which is now at 25 members) one year ago. At each meeting, she opens the group in prayer, organizes all of the payments, does the final count of the money before passing it to the loan officer, and translates between Spanish and Creole. The majority of the women in her particular group are Haitian, and many do not speak Spanish yet. Shely’s dedication to her peers and their success is evident as she diligently reads them their responsibilities and rights as Esperanza associates at every meeting. As questions arise amongst her peers, she diligently seeks out the answers from her loan officer, striving to thoroughly facilitate communication between the loan officer and her group members. Shely is a true leader, and will undoubtedly play an important role in helping others to improve their own lives.

One of the unique ways that Shely shows compassion and empathy for others is through her sales on partial credit. While some may discredit this act of compassion as nothing more than strategic business, Shely has altruistic motives for offering clothing to clients when they can’t pay. She recognizes the poverty that surrounds her and is quite familiar with what it is like to be short of money, she believes is her duty to offer a necessity such as clothing to those who don’t have the means for paying for it upfront; when possible, Shely does not deny someone the dignity of being clothed. Through her due diligence and the strong relationships she has formed with her customers, she consistently recovers all of her debts while providing a basic service to those who otherwise would not have the means to pay for clothing articles in full.

Shely’s greatest challenge has been her living situation. Several years ago, Shely found herself living with her husband and, at that time, five children in a tiny rented home. Not only was there not enough room to sleep, but fighting and conflict between neighbors was constant and made for an unsafe environment — it was not a suitable place to raise children, she said. Leaving that home and purchasing the land to build their first home was no easy feat on her husband’s small income. However, today she stands with pride next to a home that she calls her own and gets even more excited as she points to the back half of her house that is partially completed, and constructed entirely cinder-block. Her own dream house is becoming a reality as we speak (s house of cinder block and concrete withstands the hurricanes and tropical rainstorms that leave so many poor families homeless in the Dominican Republic every month).

Shely has risen up as a true community leader in her church and community. She attributes much of her new found success in the last year to the confidence and sense of purpose she has gained as a small-business owner and president of the local micro-bank. Two years ago, she said that she was depressed and felt helpless as she and her husband struggled to feed and clothe their children on his salary alone, not being able to participate as an earner for her household was frustrating and demoralizing. Now, Shely not only stands with more respect in her house, but also stands as a respected recognized leader in her church and community alike.

Shely, her husband and their 7 children

Shely’s family standing in front of the new house they are building out of concrete block, which the income from their loans is helping make possible

Author's Website: http://www.esperanza.org

This Day, an African website on global affairs, reports new comments from Muhammad Yunus about the role of international financing of MFIs. Yunus was speaking at a conference in Lagos, and reiterated his point from last month’s conference in Mexico City that microfinance should focus on the extremely poor. He also went a step further in calling for greater local funding for microfinance. Yunus’ remarks are bound to make some European and US funders a little nervous. For the complete article: thisdayonline.com

Author's Website: http://www.seattlemicrofinance.org/

Most everyone interested in microfinance knows the story of Grameen, either because somebody gave us Yunus’ Banker to the Poor or because of his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. In either case, one of the notable “aha” moments for Yunus was the realization that banks didn’t serve the poor in Bangladesh. Microfinance Institutions were quickly able to step in and fill the gap.

Sri Lanka shows just how big that gap can be. Microfinance has been so successful in Sri Lanka that an estimated 60% of the population has accessed financial services through MFIs. In addition to the traditional first phase of microfinance, microcredit, Sri Lankans are also great savers with “75% of households having saved in a financial institution.” For more, see the full article in the Daily Mirror.

Author's Website: http://www.seattlemicrofinance.org/

A member of the Nicaraguan Association of Microfinancing Associations, Fondo de Desarrollo Local is a lead institution in credit service provision in Nicaragua’s rural sector.  FDL’s portfolio is over $ 54 million dollars placed with more than 75,000 clients, 61% of whom are women, and 62% of the credits are agricultural.
FDL has received various international acknowledgements as one of the most transparent and best administered institutions in Central America and the Caribbean including: the CABEI Prize 2006 for Microfinancing Management; the Certificate of Transparency granted by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP); and the Prize for Excellence in Microfinances for Non-regulated Institutions.

MISSION:
The Local Development Fund (FDL) is a non-profit association created by the Nitlapán – UCA Institute to provide financial services to small and medium rural and urban businesspeople to allow them to increase their living standard and capital.
To fulfill its mission, FDL has skilled and competent human resources with appropriate infrastructure and technology, and is linked to institutions that are working for national development.

VISION:
FDL aims to be the leader in providing rural credit services to small and medium business people, financing working and investment capital with financial and social profitability. To that end it requires skilled, competent human resources committed to local development. In addition it establishes links with national and foreign institutions to attract funds, and with other like-minded organizations. It also acquires appropriate infrastructure and technology.

VALUES:

• Equity in services access
• Professional ethics
• Spirit of service
• Respect
• Commitment to human development
• Honesty
• Ideological tolerance
• Efficiency and Effectiveness

Author's Website:

With the spotlight on China with the 2008 Olympics Games, I naturally started to look at how China is doing in the microfinance sector.   However, to my surprise, there was actually very little information about microfinance in China.  I scoured the internet for hours, and could only find a handful of sites that had anything relevant.  So, I thought I would highlight some of my findings:

I was expecting there to be a lot more, but I was only able to find the following MFIs in China:

• ARDPAS - Association for Rural Development of Poor Areas in Sichuan
• CFPA - China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation
• CZWSDA - Chifeng Zhaowuda Women’s Sustainable Development Association
• OI China - Opportunity International China
• PATRA Hunchun
• PATRA Yanbian

Most of the articles I found were fairly old, so I here is a list of some of the more recent articles:

• Microfinance in China: Micro vs. Mandarin
• History of Microcredit in China
• Social entrepreneurship in Sichuan: Interview with Meg Young of Ecologia, a sustainable development program
• China Life Insurance Company Limited Introduces Microinsurance Products in Nine Provinces
• Sustainable Development in China
• What Microfinance Means for China’s Growth
• Microfinance Institutions To Debut In China’s Zhejiang Province

-Wokai
Wokai is a “capital-contributing microfinance intermediary in the China microfinance field.” They have good information on the site, and they have a great blog that talks a lot about microfinance in China.  Definitely a great place to start if you are looking for info about China.
-Mix Market
“The MIX MARKET ™ provides information to sector actors and the public at large on microfinance institutions (MFIs) worldwide, public and private funds that invest in microfinance, MFI networks, raters/external evaluators, advisory firms, and governmental and regulatory agencies.”  The Mix Market is very useful if you want to dig deeper into specific organizations and countries.
-China Asociation of Microfinance (CAM)
Although the website is a little hard to navigate, CAM has a lot of current events and news feeds about microfinance associations in China.

Like I said earlier, I wasn’t able to find very much information pertaining to microfinance in China.  If anybody has any other good websites with relevant information, please let me know.

Author's Website:

[via Microfinance Center]

• MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: An Investigation of Economies of Scale in Microfinance Institutions
• Irresponsible Lending – Some Lessons
• New Publications on the Microfinance Gateway
  

Author's Website: http://www.drewmeyersinsights.com

It’s no surprise that I am a big supporter of Kiva.  One thing that I really like are the updates that they send from the individual donors that I lend to.  Recently I received an email from one of the Kiva field volunteers, Omeed Selbe, who is volunteering in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which I thought was pretty interesting.  It gives a generalized overview of things going on in Cambodia, so  I wanted to share some of it:

Cambodia is fortunate to be making gains in healthcare, education and political transparency, though the country still has a long way to go in recovering since it was plunged into tumult by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. I don’t believe that microfinance alone is by any means a panacea for development, here in Cambodia or anywhere else in the world. However, I have witnessed the substantial impact that microfinance has on enterprising, motivated individuals.

A well regulated microfinance sector - completing the kind of work that Kiva and HKL do - provides the financial resources necessary for upward mobility to those who would otherwise lack these resources or at least pay dearly for them (e.g., through village money lenders or informal lending circles). Many Kiva/HKL [Hattha Kaksekar Limited] Borrowers have been able to significantly improve their living conditions by expanding small businesses like grocery stalls, food stands, and personal farms to the level that would create consistent increased income.

An example of the success of a Kiva loan is Ya Fatimas of Phnom Penh City. Her loan of $1000 was used to expand her modest business of selling pumpkin cakes to local villagers and to purchase a motorcycle for her husband to use for taxi services in the city. After receiving the loan she saw a substantial increase in her household income, which enables her to pay school fees for her children without sacrificing other necessities.

HKL is a socially progressive, profit-driven organization, which I have witnessed to work extremely efficiently throughout the country. The organization operates successfully in nine provinces, and has long-term plans to expand to serve the entire country. In light of HKL’s large footprint, I’m continually impressed by the intimate geographical knowledge of the HKL distribution network. Local credit officers seem to understand so well the web of interaction between all of the inhabitants of their designated village or region, and can therefore lend adequately to clients without approving over-indebtedness. HKL has been a partner with Kiva since February 2008 and is committed to further strengthening its relationship with Kiva. Look out for new HKL clients that are continually posted on Kiva.org.

I recently visited Cambodia and was able to see first hand the effects that the Khmer Rouge political party had on the country, so it is great to hear that the country is doing better and that it’s citizens are able rise out of poverty due to microfinance.

Author's Website:

One Hen is a book about microfinance that is based on true events. It follows the story of two African boys: Kojo, who receives a small loan to buy a hen, and Kwabena Darko, who today is one of the largest poultry farmers in West Africa. The book has gotten rave reviews, but what I like the best is that there is a website that accompanies the book.  The website offers an interactive way for children to learn about microfinance through various games, like quizzes, mazes and memory tests.  Additionally, the website shares stories about microfinance and even encourages children to get involved.

Author's Website:

Facebook and Myspace are the two biggest social networking sites that people use.  Although Myspace started as the leader, Facebook is emerging as the Worldwide leader.  At first I thought it was just people in the US that used these sites, but after a recent trip to Southeast Asia, I found that people from all over the world are using Facebook.
My favorite application that Facebook has is CAUSES.  In Causes, you can join different organizations that support non-profit organziations across the World.  Recently, I have noticed that microfinance has started to emerge in the Causes application.  Here is a highlight of some of the microfinance causes that I found:
Microfinance Platforms:

• Kiva.org — Make a loan, change a life - With over 14,000 members and more than $13,000 in donations in the group, Kiva has done a great job of making microfinance a big presence in the social networking world.
• Microplace: Although far behind Kiva on the social networking scene, Microplace is fairly new, so we should hopefully see a big jump within this group as more people become aware of the things Microplace is doing.

MFIs:

• Peacework Microfinance for Education Fund - Provide Financial Capital for Students’ Education: A group started by three people from Arkansas US, this group supports the Peacework Development Fund
• U.S. Microfinance (ACCION): With 298 members and with the donations going to ACCION, this groups goal is “To improve the lives of low and moderate-income individuals in the United States by providing microloans and other financial services.”
• Microcredit and Microfinance: Economic Opportunity for All - The number 1 Facebook group under a microfinance keyword search with 656 members, this group was set up by members of RESULTS  with a strong goal to “reduce the number of people living on less than US$1 a day worldwide by granting small loans to start a business”

Other:

• Microfinance Alliance: Together, Working for Economic Opportunity - With 46 members, this groups goal is “To educate, inspire, and activate a passion for bettering the plight of the world’s poor through microfinance.”
• Bali Microfinance Initiative: With a more focused approach to a Facebook causes group, the Bali Microfinance Initiative, intended for launch in May 2008, focuses on using microfinance and education to fight global poverty, specifically in Indonesia.

I really think that Facebook has done a great job with these groups.  I know a lot of people who have joined specific causes just because their friends were in it.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that these people will become heavily involved in microfinance right away, but at least it will give them an introduction.

About Causes:

Facebook Platform presents an unprecedented opportunity to engage our generation, most of whom are on Facebook, in seizing the future and making a difference in the world around us. Our generation cares deeply, but the current system has alienated us. Causes provides the tools so that any Facebook user can leverage their network of real friends to effect positive change.

Author's Website:

• Syria’s First MFI Opens
• Violent Protests Against Nicaraguan Microfinance Institution
• GF Secures $5 Million Financing Deal for Nigerian MFI LAPO
  
• China’s Emerging Micro-finance Industry
• Guaranteeing Growth for the Poor
  
• Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Lok Capital invest in Kolkata micro finance firm news

Author's Website: