Posted on June 12, 2009 - by Gavin

Area Rotarians raise $900 toward micro finance loan for bank in Africa…

Sierra Star

Last week, it took just 50 people at an Oakhurst Sierra Rotary fundraising dinner to raise more than $900 for Opportunity International at Sweetwater Steakhouse. Those dollars will go toward the overall goal of $300,000 that the nonprofit micro finance organization will use to build a bank in Mbale, an African market town in Uganda. The bank in Mbale will provide micro finance loans to impoverished entrepreneurs there to start small businesses. The businesses will help entrepreneurs to save and repay their loans to the bank. In turn, the repayments will provide for more loans and a greater financial infrastructure for Mbale.

For Rotarian John Crane, the prospect of a cyclical investment has appeal. “I heard about the idea of providing loans for the poor to help them create self-sustaining businesses and I got really excited about the potential to not only help people, but to spread our (Rotarian) values globally,” he said.

Crane said he was deeply affected by a study-abroad term he spent as a young student in Honduras, where Marxist teaching was pervasive, as was anti-capitalist thinking. “I came to realize that the problem is, I believe, that capitalism never got to them,” he said. “I really believe in our country, in the idea that if you’re willing to work for it, the opportunity for success is there.”

This most recent fundraising endeavor isn’t a first for Crane or the Rotary group — they began with a donation toward a bank in Honduras.

“It’s a way that we promote the American values of opportunity and social justice,” he said.

For Regional Director Henri Haber, it’s a means of not only giving money, but giving the “dignity” that comes with independence. “People want the dignity of developing something of their own,” he said. “We believe the poor are the asset upon which poverty can be solved.” Solving poverty is a daunting task, but Opportunity International boasts work in 28 countries worldwide and 1.2 million micro-loan borrowers whose repayment rate is 98 percent. “That rate is the envy of any in the lending business,” he said. Just as impressive is the fact that the organization’s revenues exceed their expenses by eight percent.

Beyond the lending function of the organization, Haber said the group also builds infrastructure within the communities where their 6,000 loan officers work. “Our loan officers wear many hats,” he said. As part of their loan agreement, the entrepreneurs are required to save a portion of their income. The combined savings of their clients totals $186 million, Haber said.

“We are not about a hand-out,” he said. “We offer a hand up. We seek to answer the questions, ‘ How do you bring people into the formal economy when they live within an informal economy?’” In many of the areas the organization works, said Haber, people are left without a safe place to keep their money and bartering is still common.

Haber said his personal goal is to see the entrepreneurs get to the point, financially, at which they can give in return. “In order for charity work to be indigenous, to address the concerns of one’s own country, the economies there must get strong enough to support the work,” he said.

One of his favorite examples, he said, is of a woman named Vivian. She lives in Ghana and runs a day care there. She is in her 11th loan cycle — she began with a $54 loan and now has enough credit built up to have recently borrowed $5,000. Her day care has been such a successful endeavor, she is now able to subsidize the tuition of many of her students, he said.

Mountain Area Rotarian Tim Madden was hooked on the idea of micro finance and has even given money toward loans as Christmas gifts to his family. Madden said that being a self-employed businessman himself, he felt particularly inclined to give to other enterprising individuals.

“I feel that for a small investment, I can make a difference. I started with four $25 investments and it was so cool to see that, in turn, that means a bank in Peru, or a business, is up and running. Self-employment lights my fire.

“It was especially neat to hear Henri say that the goal is for (the borrowers) to give within their own countries,” Madden said.

Crane said the Rotarians have set a goal to raise $5,000 from the Mountain Area. Haber’s goal is to help Rotary groups in the greater Central Valley raise another $100,000, which will garner a $100,000 match in funds from a private donor in San Diego.

Madden and Crane also have their sights set on future projects in areas of “extremist Islam,” they said.

“Terrorism is less appealing in light of self-sufficiency,” he said.

Source: http://www.sierrastar.com/103/story/48996.html