Producto Creer: How for a Bank Doing the Right Thing Can Pay Off

By Emmanuel M. von Arx, KF16, Guayaquil (Ecuador)

My host and Kiva´s partner organization Banco D-MIRO provides over ten different types of microloans to borrowers in and around Guayaquil: among them loans to finance housing improvements, school expenses, medication, and loans awarded specifically to employees, young clients with a business idea but no experience, and – as Ecuador´s only microfinance institution – discount loans for HIV-positive micro-entrepreneurs. Yet, one borrower group beats all other borrowers in their dedication and commitment to paying back their loans on time: the well over 400 disabled borrowers of Banco D-MIRO, whose payment discipline has turned “their” loan – “Producto Creer” (“Product Believe”) – into the most successful and inspirational product of D-MIRO´s extensive spectrum. The delinquency rate of Producto Creer is by far lower than that of any other major micro-loan type of Banco D-MIRO, which means that borrowers of Producto Creer are better at paying back their monthly rates than any other client group! In these times of economic and social turmoil, Banco D-MIRO´s Producto Creer may be a much needed reminder that it may pay off for banks to do the morally right thing.

Visiting an HIV-Clinic in Guayaquil (Part II)

By Emmanuel M. von Arx, KF16, Guayaquil (Ecuador)

One of the great joys and privileges of being a Kiva Fellow is to go along with loan officers when they are meeting Kiva borrowers and new clients. One of my most memorable outings was a visit of an HIV-clinic in a public hospital in Ecuador´s largest city Guayaquil. In the first part of this blog post I recounted how I drove with Nahin Alvarado from Banco D-MIRO´s headquarters on Guayaquil´s Isla Trinitaria to the HIV-clinic at Hospital Abel Gilbert. Nahin is the bank´s loan officer specializing in HIV-positive and/or disabled clients who have the right to receive a discount micro-loan. And Banco D-MIRO is the only micro-institution in all Ecuador to provide financial products especially for these two long-excluded client groups.

Nahin is talking to a patient outside of Guayaquil´s HIV clinic

While Nahin is presenting the bank´s special loan products to the patients in the HIV- clinic´s crowded waiting room, Franklin walks towards me. A strong man in his forties, Franklin is the leader and community organizer of FUSAD (Frente Unido por la Salud y los Derechos – in English: United Front for Health and Rights), a self-help and support group for HIV-positive people, based at the hospital and well known for the professional education courses they provide to their members.

Visiting an HIV-Clinic in Guayaquil (Part I)

By Emmanuel M. von Arx, KF16, Ecuador

“Don’t be scared to shake the hand of a client with HIV or to drink out of his glass. You cannot get infected that way.” This was the message that Nahin Alvarado repeated over and over during a training session in September with a group of twelve new and somewhat incredulous loan officers of Banco D-MIRO, when I first met him. A loan officer himself, Nahin has been with Banco D-MIRO for over two years, focusing on two very special client groups who – not just in Ecuador – have long suffered from discrimination and lack of access to financial services: micro-entrepreneurs who are HIV-positive or disabled. The moment I heard Nahin so forcefully speak up on behalf of HIV-positive clients, I knew that I wanted to spend a day with him in the field.

Sala Kahle: Saying Goodbye to KwaZulu-Natal

By Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa

Like most Fellows from Kiva’s 14th class, I am busily tying up the loose ends of my Fellowship. As much as I enjoyed my trips to the rural areas surrounding Richards Bay (although I wasn’t a huge fan of Richards Bay itself), I can’t say that I mind my current locale: the beach at Kommetjie, about an hour south of Cape Town. My Fellowship required a sustained burst of manic energy and proved to be an extraordinary mixed bag that was both incredibly challenging and rewarding. While I’m ready for a little R&R, I wouldn’t take back any part of the past three months, except perhaps for the multitude of yappy dogs that started barking at 5:30am each morning and harassed me on all of my walks. I definitely could have done without them!

Update from the Field: Carnival, Collaboration + Cheese-Making

Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa

This past week was all about collaboration: Fellows coordinating across continents to profile entrepreneurs and organizations who believe International Women’s Day should be every day and community members coming together to celebrate Carnival in all of its elaborate glory. We learned about public health in Peru, making cheese and cigars in Nicaragua, the impact of climate change in Bolivia, and the challenges faced by a microcredit saleswoman in Guatemala. Life as a Kiva Fellow is busy as always!

Sugar Daddy Syndrome

Yesterday I spent about 12 hours on hot, crowded and bumpy buses in Dar Es Salaam. At least half of that time was spent idling in traffic jams, an inevitable experience whenever one travels to the far-flung corners of this sprawling city. I was trying to reach a couple of Tujijenge Tanzania clients and interview them as part of Kiva’s borrower verification process. I found one of the two clients I was hoping to meet, so the day was partially successful. By the time I got home it was close to 9pm, and after cleaning up and a quick meal (rice and beans in coconut sauce – delightful!), I was ready to relax. Allowing myself a short reprieve from noisy, dusty Dar, a movie was in order. Figuring a British film set in 1960s London should do the trick, I settled on the film An Education; however, as the story of a schoolgirl’s doomed relationship with an older man unfolded, I couldn’t help but recognize that the movie holds significant parallels with modern Tanzania.

On HIV, Serenity and Microfinance

There is arguably a problem larger than poverty in southern Africa. Although not reaching the levels of neighbouring Swaziland, whose mid-term future as a country and people is uncertain, HIV is rife in Mozambique. One in six adults is estimated to carry antibodies for the disease, as are over 100,000 children.

I am living in Kisumu, Kenya

I am living in Kisumu, Kenya. Here is a picture of the street where I volunteer, in the Nyalenda slum.

Walking around the slum, one quickly comes across evidence of the post election violence.  Burned buildings are common.  As are random herds of goats.

White people in Kisumu are usually in self-contained SUVs.  Not too many ever enter the Nyalenda slum.  As a result, as I walk, I am usually chased by children.

If I stay in one place for too long, they gather to stare.

In the slum, you find many teenage girls.  Their stories show a lot of common themes.

I am 20 years old.  My parents passed away when I was 14.  A lack of school fees made me leave school.  We were left 10 children.  Everyone searched for places to stay but I was left alone and went to be a street girl.  A guy hired me as a maid but forced me to have sex.  Within one month he raped me and I was pregnant.  I went to the Kenyan police and they did not take any action about that case.  They wanted money but I didn’t have even a single cent to give them.  I became a mother of a child but there was no job or anything to do.  I wake up early in the morning to wash clothes for people.  They only give me 50 shillings (*equivalent of less than $1USD) in order to get food to eat with my child.  Without washing clothes, we go to sleep hungry. If I can get someone to take care of me and return me back to school, then I can be proud and be happy as some people are.  Maybe my life can change and I can be someone different.

I’m a girl of age 20 years.  I dropped out of school in 2005 because I did not have money to continue my education.  I have been staying at home doing nothing.  I have no money to start a business.  I have no knowledge of anything.  I tried to convince my father to look for money to take me to high school but he did not.  I have been walking day and night to look for employment even as a housemaid but the salary is as low as 100 shillings a month (*$1.31 USD per month).  There is a time I succeeded in getting employment in a rich man’s house.  He promised to pay me well but was exploiting me sexually.  When I threatened to report him he sent me away.  I was frustrated beyond words.

I am 22 years old.  I am the first born in a family of five.  I live with my mother and step-father and dropped out of school.  I used to go clubbing and really had a bad company.  I got pregnant and now I have a kid, he’s 2.5 years old.  Life has been so hard I even tried marriage to find happiness and comfort.  I was married to a young man who gave me everything but mistreated me and my kid.  I had no choice but to stay with him since he provided me everything.  Nobody cared about me.  My husband was cheating on me but there was nothing I could do.  Now I am HIV positive.

A Sisterhood for Change participant posing with her child

Kisumu Medical and Education Trust (“KMET”) is one of KIVA’s partners.  In 2006, KMET created a program to address the seemingly hopeless situation for teenage girls.  KMET recruited orphans, single mothers, high school drop-outs, HIV/AIDs patients and commercial sex workers for a program called Sisterhood for Change.  The stories above are taken from profiles written by the girls recruited by the program.

At the Sisterhood for Change center, the teenage girls are taught about reproductive health and family planning.  For the first time, the girls learn about menstruation, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and how to use a condom.

At the center, the girls are also trained for 6 months in vocational skills, like cooking, hairdressing or tailoring.  Experienced tutors work with them from 8 am – 5pm, making sure that they have the skills to find legitimate jobs.  This is a huge opportunity – before they joined SFC, many of the girls had supported themselves and their children by “getting a boyfriend.”  These “boyfriends” are rarely monogamous and they rarely use condoms, contributing to the high rate of HIV infection in Kisumu (15%).  In the 1990s, the rate of HIV infection reached as high as 38%.  Along the streets, you can buy shirts, mangos, and coffins.  Funeral processions line the streets every weekend.

Susan teaches tailoring skills to an SFC girl

When Sisterhood for Change began, KMET expected that upon graduation, the girls would immediately get jobs in local communities.  Unfortunately, Kisumu just… doesn’t have jobs.  So even with their new vocational skills, the girls were still unemployed and relying upon men for income.

So KMET conceptualized an idea for Safe Spaces.  KMET has purchased a building in the Nyalenda slum and stocked it with the equipment needed to run tailoring, hairdressing and catering businesses.  KMET will train the girls in business and entrepreneurship, and then they will be free to work in the Safe Space for as long as they wish.  The girls will be purchasing supplies using KIVA loans.
For a long time, I wondered whether it could work.  We held a lot of preliminary meetings to discuss our plans for the Safe Spaces, and the girls usually yawned in indifference.  I would smile. I would pump my fists in excitement.  I would lure them with cookies.  Still, they seemed disinterested.

But now it’s actually happening! They are working in the Safe Spaces, selling french fries, avocado juice, and sassy hairstyles. Training takes place from April 29th-May 7th, with the generous help fof the Child at Venture Foundation. I still sometimes wonder if they are ready.  I still sometimes wonder if Muhammad Yunus would approve.  These girls really are the poorest of the poor, and we are trained that microfinance is not always effective with that group.  Will high school drop outs be able to run their own businesses?  We’ll find out…

Would Muhammad Yunus lend to us?

Milena Arciszewski is a year-long Kiva Fellow.  She has been in Kenya since January 2009, helping to develop the Safe Space initiative.  She loves getting emails, and can be reached at milena.kathryn@gmail.com.