Success Stories

Overall, micro credit has gained recognition as an effective way to bring very poor families out of poverty with the help of low-cost financial services. It also helps in the development of an economy by giving everyday people the chance to establish a sustainable means of income. Eventually increases in disposable income will lead to economic development and growth.

Listed below are some the sucess stories of women who were able to establish financial security with the help of microcredit.

Mexico:

Institution: Pro Mujer Mexico

Georgina Gutierrez

Age: 36

Children: Daughter, age 7

Hometown: Mexico

Current loan: 6th loan, $400

Business: Chicken sales

Before receiving her first loan from Pro Mujer Mexico, Georgina made only enough money helping with her father's business to feed herself and her daughter, Rebecca. A friend told her about Pro Mujer Mexico, and she went to an informational meeting. There, she decided that a Pro Mujer Mexicoloan was just what she needed to invest in a business and make enough money to support her family. With her first loan, Georgina bought some chickens and the materials needed to feed and care for them. Her profits were $2.00 for each chicken sold, and she sold an average of 15 chickens per day. With her significantly increased income, Georgina can now support herself and Rebecca.

Kenya:

Institution: Jamii Bora Trust

Susan Wangui

Age: 30, Single

Children: Daughter, 9 / Son, 13

Hometown: Kenya

Loan History: 3rd loan, $110

Business: Clothes mending and sales

Susan was kicked her out of her home when she became pregnant at 17. Hoping to find work, Susan and her infant son moved to Nairobi, where she married and had a daughter. Her husband left her when they learned she was HIV-positive. Unable to find work and with no means to support her two small children, Susan ended up in prostitution. Susan learned about Jamii Bora and she completed their business training, which improved her business skills and gave her the confidence to begin her clothes mending and sales business. Jamii Bora’s microfinance services enabled her to quit prostitution and move her family from a disease-ridden slum into a safer house. Their house has a floor, running water, a waterproof roof and locking door—all luxuries they did not have previously. Susan has savings for the first time and is striving to earn enough to ensure her children’s educations so they can break free from the chains of poverty.

Indonesia:

Institution: MBK Ventura

Soimi

Age: 47, Married

Children: 2 sons, 4 daughters

Hometown: Indonesia

Loan History: 5th loan, $245

Business: Sewing, raising ducks

Since joining MBK in 2003, her businesses have rapidly grown and in turn the quality of life for her family has dramatically improved. She has been able to purchase additional sewing machines, invest further in her duck eggs business, and is now conducting sewing classes for young girls in her home. Her duck egg business now makes more than $5 each week in profits and Soimi is able to charge her sewing students $22 per month. This has significantly increased her family’s income and Soimi is excited about her ability to expand her businesses while continuing to fulfill her daily family responsibilities. Soimi makes a point of saving at least 11 cents everyday at home and deposits it in a voluntary savings program operated by MBK.

Argentina:

Instituition: FIS

Juana Fernández

Age: 40; married

Children: Daughter, 12 / Son, 7

Hometown: Argentina

Loan history: 8th loan, $700

Business: Hairdresser

When the Argentine economy collapsed in 2002, she was determined to persevere. A loan from FIS allowed Juani the means to save her business. One of FIS’s first clients in Buenos Aires, Juani used her initial loan to settle debts resulting from the economic crisis and pay her rent. With subsequent loans, Juani, who formed a borrowers’ group called “Juani” with three other women entrepreneurs, was able to buy new equipment for her business. Juani often reflects on how microfinance has changed her life for the better. “I come from a very humble family in Paraguay,” Juani says. “We lived in a shantytown, and sometimes I had to pick old cloth from the garbage to make clothes for ourselves. Now, though, I think I have achieved everything I ever wanted since I was a child.” Her focus now is on providing for her own children and making sure they study hard. Juani, with help from FIS, has broken the cycle of poverty in a single generation.

India:

Institution: Grameen Koota

Nazimunisa

Age: 48 years, married

Children: Daughter, 18

Hometown: India

Loan History: Fifth loan, $274

Business: Tailor; clothing and vegetable shop owner

Nazimunisa came from a very poor family of daily-wage laborers. Before joining Unitus's MFI partner Grameen Koota (GK), Nazimunisa worked as an incense roller, earning about 22 cents for every 1,000 sticks made; her husband ran a small food shop. Looking for ways to smooth her family’s income through rough times, Nazimunisa joined GK in 1999. With her first loan of $91, she bought a sewing machine and started a successful dress-making business. After expenses, Nazimunisa used her profits of $6 to $9 per month to do maintenance on her home and pay for her daughter’s education. With the help of GK’s microfinance services, it took less than one generation for Nazimunisa and her family to lift themselves out of poverty. In the past six years, Nazimunisa has started three successful businesses, and her family’s income is comfortable and sustainable.

All of the aforementioned stories are excerpts from Unitus. Unitus is a nonprofit organization taking a hybrid approach to fighting global poverty. They use proven strategies from the venture capital, investment banking and strategy consulting industries. For more information, please visit their website at http://www.unitus.com

“I am very proud that can afford something like this store, even though I am a woman.” 

-- Violet Mutoto, a Ugandan borrower with the Freedom from Hunger program, lives in a poor village on the outskirts of a large town. Violet’s husband passed away and she now lives with her four children in an 8 by 10 foot room, adjacent to a smaller room that houses her store. The building is made of mud, with dirt floors and a corrugated tin roof. There is no plumbing and the family shares a latrine not far from the house. Violet is her family’s sole breadwinner. She used her first loan of $43 to rent the house/store and buy supplies. After repaying that, she used her second loan to expand her store’s stock. Now that she sells cooking oil, cassava flour, salt, cheese, biscuits, sugar, malaria pills, and condoms, she is having no trouble repaying her third loan. Her $5–10 in daily profits buys food and school supplies for her children. She can now afford to send her older children to secondary school. She has saved almost $100, set aside in case of emergency. Freedom from Hunger aggressively targets the poorest women in rural and urban communities. Violet’s story on Freedom from Hunger’s Website

“Had I had access to the Kashf loan much earlier, life would have been so much better.” -- Khursheed Baji, 60-year-old mother of six, is a borrower with the Kashf program in Bangladesh. She lives in a village situated about 30 miles outside of Lahore. Khursheed used her microloans to set up a business selling traditional bracelets. She used additional loans to set up a shoe business and then to expand both enterprises. She has needed the income badly because her husband suffers from acute heart problems and has been bedridden indefinitely. In the absence of her husband’s income, microcredit enabled Khursheed to earn about $25–30 each month, enough to sustain her family. Now her children are grown, but she and her husband can still support themselves in an economy without social nets for the elderly poor.