Banking on Africa

Aug 18

Rwanda Trust Group member, Rachel   For more than an hour we listened to the stories from about 15 members of a Trust Group here in Rwanda, some of them meeting together like this for seven years. Afterwards in the bus we compared notes—inspired by them all, but unanimously impressed with Rachael, a single woman on her 5th loan cycle.   Completing high school, Rachael graduated into 50% unemployment. She heeded the government’s encouragement to new graduates: “Create your own work.” In these rural communities there are virtually no jobs. Another popular phrase we heard this week is, “Don’t look for work—create it.” To do this Rachael came to Opportunity for a loan of $250 to start a restaurant. After five consecutive loans, each for four months, her current loan is $580. Today, five people work for her.   With the profits of her restaurant business Rachael has built a small house for her parents. One of our group asked her what the future holds. With no hesitation or uncertainty, she responded that she plans to go to college—while maintaining her restaurant. Our time with the Trust Group ended with Rachel praying for us.   Impressed by her optimism and spirit, on the bus afterwards we kidded that this budding entrepreneur will eventually buy Opportunity’s bank. —Mark Lutz

Rwanda Trust Group member, Rachel

 

For more than an hour we listened to the stories from about 15 members of a Trust Group here in Rwanda, some of them meeting together like this for seven years. Afterwards in the bus we compared notes—inspired by them all, but unanimously impressed with Rachael, a single woman on her 5th loan cycle.

 

Completing high school, Rachael graduated into 50% unemployment. She heeded the government’s encouragement to new graduates: “Create your own work.” In these rural communities there are virtually no jobs. Another popular phrase we heard this week is, “Don’t look for work—create it.” To do this Rachael came to Opportunity for a loan of $250 to start a restaurant. After five consecutive loans, each for four months, her current loan is $580. Today, five people work for her.

 

With the profits of her restaurant business Rachael has built a small house for her parents. One of our group asked her what the future holds. With no hesitation or uncertainty, she responded that she plans to go to college—while maintaining her restaurant. Our time with the Trust Group ended with Rachel praying for us.

 

Impressed by her optimism and spirit, on the bus afterwards we kidded that this budding entrepreneur will eventually buy Opportunity’s bank.

—Mark Lutz

My First Trust Group ExperienceWe rose early today and split into two groups with ours visiting a trust group in kampala which is the bustling capital of Uganda.We meandered down the shopping district winding our way through an orderly confusion of shops, street vendors and a sea of humanity.  It was hot and dry and the red dust rose over the marketplace like a cloud mixing itself with the heavy smell of outdoor cooking and fumes from the ” boda bodas” as they streaked by.We found our destination which was one of two wooden covered shelters made from four tree branches and a piece of rusted tin which I am sure had it’s birth as part of a building.  We sat on benches too short for our stature and last seen by me in a kindergarten class of my daughter  Katie.We waited a few minutes and soon they filed in taking seats facing us with big smiles dressed in their most colorful Sunday best.  Our interpreter asked us to introduce ourselves which we performed in rapid fire as we tried to explain in a few words our place in the world.The chairman opened the meeting with a strong resolve and the meeting began. He was a man of  4.8 feet, dressed in matching green attire, missing a few teeth but laser focused, in command of his audience, and totally in control of the meeting at hand. You could see in his weather worn face the intuitive ability to articulate a vision and the presence to lead others. I leaned over to Kevin, a traveling companion and said ” if they open this meeting by reading the last meeting minutes, I will be very impressed”.     And with that a member stood up with his 11x14 note pad, hand written,and standing military straight presented the minutes of the last meeting…… Everyone nodded and the first order of business was the monthly payment of loans, including the young boy who appeared with a black plastic bag to make the payment for his sick mother in cash.   We then proceeded to hear stories of their success and the beaming appreciation they had for our support.  We had a woman who ran a retail banana store, a man who was a banana wholesaler, an owner of a boutique, although I wondered where in this world he latched onto this phrase, and  a few others who I must admit I missed still being flabbergasted at the wall street structure of this event.  Our chairman who began as a shoeshine stand,owned a retail store and had educated seven children , three in politics and four others who had also attended the university and who beamed like the north star as he told us his story.The next order of business was the discussion of old business which began with the contingency fund they had created on their own for a possible default of one of their membership, and then moved into the current operations of their “bod a bod a messenger (motorcycle) who the group had funded as a new venture and a revenue source.  Another member sprang to his feet to suggest that they needed to find and own their own meeting site, a real property investment, and paint it the color of opportunity bank. He suggested they mandate the wearing of t-shirts in trust group colors, and create their own brand.  He was the marketing officer who any CEO would cherish .This whole process was well organized, carefully thought out, executed perfectly and given their environment, their total lack of education, operating in the African version of the wild west, an accomplishment that would have rivaled a Harvard business school graduate. You could see in their beaming faces an clear understanding of the necessary process to be successful.  It’s only the “luck of the draw” of their place of birth that they were not sitting in an office high above Madison avenue.Anyone who is working with opportunity international or planning to, you must take the time to make this trip in order to understand the complexities of the system it’s challenges and successes, the winners and losers, and those persons whose only crime was being born into a society where opportunity and the entrepreneurial spirit are ill defined and bursting to be released.It was truly one of the great experiences in life … Bruce, Insight Trip Traveler, San Francisco, CA

My First Trust Group Experience

We rose early today and split into two groups with ours visiting a trust group in kampala which is the bustling capital of Uganda.

We meandered down the shopping district winding our way through an orderly confusion of shops, street vendors and a sea of humanity.  It was hot and dry and the red dust rose over the marketplace like a cloud mixing itself with the heavy smell of outdoor cooking and fumes from the ” boda bodas” as they streaked by.

We found our destination which was one of two wooden covered shelters made from four tree branches and a piece of rusted tin which I am sure had it’s birth as part of a building.  We sat on benches too short for our stature and last seen by me in a kindergarten class of my daughter  Katie.

We waited a few minutes and soon they filed in taking seats facing us with big smiles dressed in their most colorful Sunday best.  Our interpreter asked us to introduce ourselves which we performed in rapid fire as we tried to explain in a few words our place in the world.

The chairman opened the meeting with a strong resolve and the meeting began. He was a man of  4.8 feet, dressed in matching green attire, missing a few teeth but laser focused, in command of his audience, and totally in control of the meeting at hand. You could see in his weather worn face the intuitive ability to articulate a vision and the presence to lead others. I leaned over to Kevin, a traveling companion and said ” if they open this meeting by reading the last meeting minutes, I will be very impressed”.     And with that a member stood up with his 11x14 note pad, hand written,and standing military straight presented the minutes of the last meeting…… Everyone nodded and the first order of business was the monthly payment of loans, including the young boy who appeared with a black plastic bag to make the payment for his sick mother in cash.  

We then proceeded to hear stories of their success and the beaming appreciation they had for our support.  We had a woman who ran a retail banana store, a man who was a banana wholesaler, an owner of a boutique, although I wondered where in this world he latched onto this phrase, and  a few others who I must admit I missed still being flabbergasted at the wall street structure of this event.  Our chairman who began as a shoeshine stand,owned a retail store and had educated seven children , three in politics and four others who had also attended the university and who beamed like the north star as he told us his story.

The next order of business was the discussion of old business which began with the contingency fund they had created on their own for a possible default of one of their membership, and then moved into the current operations of their “bod a bod a messenger (motorcycle) who the group had funded as a new venture and a revenue source.  Another member sprang to his feet to suggest that they needed to find and own their own meeting site, a real property investment, and paint it the color of opportunity bank. He suggested they mandate the wearing of t-shirts in trust group colors, and create their own brand.  He was the marketing officer who any CEO would cherish .

This whole process was well organized, carefully thought out, executed perfectly and given their environment, their total lack of education, operating in the African version of the wild west, an accomplishment that would have rivaled a Harvard business school graduate. You could see in their beaming faces an clear understanding of the necessary process to be successful.  It’s only the “luck of the draw” of their place of birth that they were not sitting in an office high above Madison avenue.

Anyone who is working with opportunity international or planning to, you must take the time to make this trip in order to understand the complexities of the system it’s challenges and successes, the winners and losers, and those persons whose only crime was being born into a society where opportunity and the entrepreneurial spirit are ill defined and bursting to be released.

It was truly one of the great experiences in life …

Bruce, Insight Trip Traveler, San Francisco, CA

Aug 15

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A young girl welcomes an Opportunity visitor from the floor of her father’s shop in a Kampala market shop. Her young father is an enterprising entrepreneur, and Trust Group member, in Kampala, Uganda, running a small boutique that sells both new and old clothes and also matresses and small luggage.  Business is good he reports and he is looking to expand his business.  Through his ingenuity, hard work, business savvy, there are reasons to be optimistic about his family’s future. —Fred, Insight Trip Traveler, Hillsborough, CA

A young girl welcomes an Opportunity visitor from the floor of her father’s shop in a Kampala market shop. Her young father is an enterprising entrepreneur, and Trust Group member, in Kampala, Uganda, running a small boutique that sells both new and old clothes and also matresses and small luggage.  Business is good he reports and he is looking to expand his business.  Through his ingenuity, hard work, business savvy, there are reasons to be optimistic about his family’s future.

—Fred, Insight Trip Traveler, Hillsborough, CA

RWANDA:   What does the future hold for this daughter of a poor Rwandan farmer? After surviving the genocide, and being given a single cow, the mother and her family have been slowly rebuilding their lives with the help of an Opportunity micro loan as a subsistence dairy farmer. Life is hard as all the water and food for the cow must be brought in manually each day on a bicycle or by walking under the burden of heavy water containers for a great distance. Still, there is optimism about the future. The single cow, who is female, has given birth to three additional cows, two of which are being raised by her. The opportunity for productivity improvements are great, and there is hope for the future. —Fred, Insight Trip Traveller, Hillsborough, CA

RWANDA:  

What does the future hold for this daughter of a poor Rwandan farmer?

After surviving the genocide, and being given a single cow, the mother and her family have been slowly rebuilding their lives with the help of an Opportunity micro loan as a subsistence dairy farmer. Life is hard as all the water and food for the cow must be brought in manually each day on a bicycle or by walking under the burden of heavy water containers for a great distance.

Still, there is optimism about the future. The single cow, who is female, has given birth to three additional cows, two of which are being raised by her. The opportunity for productivity improvements are great, and there is hope for the future.

—Fred, Insight Trip Traveller, Hillsborough, CA

RWANDA: An Opportunity client in the rural agricultural village of Nyamata describes how her “micro loan” and trust group have transformed her life by allowing her to buy land, build a house, feed her children, provide schooling, and achieve dignity for herself in her community. The lessons on running a business given by her loan officer she says are helpful to her and her community of friends in the trust group give her support and encouragement about solving problems and looking toward the future. Several of the members of this trust group were widowed by the genocide. A monument to the victims is on the road a short distance from the of town. —Fred, Insight Trip Traveler, Hillsborough, CA

RWANDA: An Opportunity client in the rural agricultural village of Nyamata describes how her “micro loan” and trust group have transformed her life by allowing her to buy land, build a house, feed her children, provide schooling, and achieve dignity for herself in her community. The lessons on running a business given by her loan officer she says are helpful to her and her community of friends in the trust group give her support and encouragement about solving problems and looking toward the future. Several of the members of this trust group were widowed by the genocide. A monument to the victims is on the road a short distance from the of town.

—Fred, Insight Trip Traveler, Hillsborough, CA

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