A loan of $150 helped to purchase more items to sell like shampoo, noodles, canned goods, spices, sugar, coffee, milk, and eggs.

A loan was financed for Ruby, an entrepreneur from the Philippines.

Here is Ruby’s Story

Deep in the heart of Roxas City in the Philippines, you will find Ruby attending to her customers at her general store. This 31-year-old married woman must work very hard to provide for her family, something she does through her general store, which she has been running for the last eight years.

She recently approached the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation and applied for a loan to help her buy more supplies for her store. The loan would go towards various items to sell including shampoo, noodles, canned goods, spices, sugar, coffee, milk and eggs. She hopes that with the help of the additional funds, she will be able to save enough money to expand her business.

The Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) locally administered Ruby’s 6,000 Philippine Pesos (PHP). The NWTF is a Kiva partner and non-governmental organization that aims to provide men and women of various low income communities in the province of Negros Occidental with the means to attain financial self-sufficiency. Besides microfinance services, the organization also offers its members other services such as life insurance, accidental health benefits, and hospital income benefits.  The funds that Kiva lenders provide the organization are used to expand its reach, ensuring that a wider range of low income households can access their services.

Through Kiva’s lending platform and the NWTF, Ruby’s loan was fully funded, giving her the chance to take one more step towards realizing her dream of expanding her business. These organizations, with the help of social entrepreneurs like myself, are helping to transform the lives of thousands of people by giving them an avenue out of the poverty that surrounds them.
One of the reasons this works so well is because all the entities that are involved are interested in the same thing:  ensuring that microfinance services are provided to those who need them the most. Kiva finds financiers wanting to donate, while organizations like the NWTF identify people on the ground who are in need of funds.

If you would also like to help an underprivileged entrepreneur, why not visit www.kiva.org. Here, you will find a long list of entrepreneurs who are in desperate need of financial assistance.

Notes
1.    This article is based on https://www.kiva.org/lend/837565

Dr. Joe Johnson is a Bradenton, Florida-based investor, entrepreneur, and start-up expert. He holds a Ph. D. in Entrepreneurial Leadership and an MBA. For more information about him and his career, visit this Twitter page.

A loan of $450 helped to purchase stocks of sugar, rice, maize flour and wheat flour.

Umazai,  a retailer in Kenya, was funded a microloan.

Here is Umazi’s Story

The sleepy coastal town of Tiribe, Kenya, is where Umazi and her family call home. She is married with three school-going children and lives in a house without running water or electricity. She does not have many expenses, with her greatest one being food for her family. She manages to meet all her needs through the retail business that she has been running in the town for a year now.

Through her business, friends and neighbors get easy access to goods such as wheat and maize flour, and sugar. She does face a few challenges in her business as well, with her main one being competition from the other retailers around. To help boost her business, Umazi joined the Yehu Microfinance Trust, and asked for a small loan that would enable her to purchase additional stock like rice and sugar for her store. The profits garnered from the additional stock would help her take better care of her family.

Locally, her loan was administered by the Yehu Microfinance Trust, a Kiva Partner and non-governmental organization whose main aim is to provide microfinance services to the poor and impoverished people of Kenya’s coastal region so that they can become economically independent. However, the organization does offer other services, including basic business skills training for their members so that they can learn how to run their businesses better.

Through Kiva and the Yehu Microfinance Trust, Umazi’s loan was fully funded. By providing low income earners with microfinance services, organizations like these, along with people who can provide aid, are helping to change the lives of thousands of underprivileged peoples.
One reason these partnerships work so well is because everyone involved would like to see lower income earners prosper and become economically self-reliant. To this end, Kiva brings people together, and the funds that these individuals provide are disbursed to needy applicants by organizations like the Yehu Microfinance trust.

Umazi is now on the way to taking her business to new heights. If you would like to have the same impact on a person’s life, why not visit www.kiva.org. They have a massive database of entrepreneurs who are in desperate need of funding so that they too can realize their dreams.

Notes
1.    This article is based on https://www.kiva.org/lend/839927

For the last 25 years, Dr. Joe Johnson has launched and funded over a dozen start-ups. Aside from being a start-up expert, he is also an entrepreneur and investor. Get to know him more when you follow this Twitter page.

A loan of $275 helped a member to buy more stock of used clothing.

Dr. Joe Johnson funded a microloan to a growing venture for Veronica, a Ghanaian entrepreneur.

Here is Yesu Tsui Krong Group’s Story

In the small fishing village of Chorkor in the sprawling metropolis of Accra, Ghana, Veronica has been operating a used clothes store for the last three years. She has managed the business well in that time, though she says one of her biggest challenges has been price fluctuations in the market. She describes herself as an honest person, and is married with one child.

Since she opened her business, she has already received one loan to help her with working capital, and she successfully paid back that loan. She recently approached ID Ghana again to provide her with a 1,000 Ghanaian Cedis loan which she intends to use to increase her stock of used clothes, hoping that she will be able to use the profits to expand her business.

Microloan Partners Her loan is administered locally through ID Ghana, a microfinance non-governmental organization that provides financial and social assistance to the underserved urban communities in Accra. The average annual income in Ghana is only $3,500, which makes it difficult for many people in Ghana to make enough money to survive, let alone fund projects that will help them to do so.

That is one reason why, with the help of Kiva and ID Ghana, Dr. Johnson fully funded the loan to the Yesu Tsui Krong Group. These organizations, together with Dr. Johnson and other who are philanthropic in the same way are changing lives.

This is due to the fact that these organizations all work towards providing microfinance services to those who have no access to capital for their businesses. To do this, the Kiva platform brings people together, while ID Ghana finds individuals who are most in need of help, so that people like Dr. Joe Johnson can provide them with loans.

The Yesu Tsui Krong group’s latest loan was fully funded by Dr. Johnson, giving Veronica the chance to realize her dream of buying clothes and using the profits to expand her business. If you would like to help transform a community in the same way, visit Kiva.org and browse through the numerous loans from around the world that are in need of funds. Make a change by giving a microloan.

Notes 1.    This article is based on https://www.kiva.org/lend/998313

A loan of $125 helped to purchase bags of fertilizer.

Dr. Joe Johnson funded a microloan to Dominga, a farmer in the Philippines.

Here is Dominga’s Story

The city of Oroquieta in the Philippines is home to Dominga, a woman who has spent her lifetime farming and to whom farming is life. For decades she has been an expert in all aspects of farming, from the preparation of the land, to seed bed preparation, sowing, replanting, pre-harvest and post-harvest management and operations. Her farm has been so successful that she has managed to send all her children through school to the college level, where after graduation they all landed good jobs.

Despite her success as a farmer, she is still willing to work, and has insisted on maintaining the same farming routine even as she gets older. It was this thought process that led her to seek a loan from the Paglau Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PMPC) to help her purchase bags of fertilizer to boost her harvest.

Microloan Partners
Her loan was administered through the PMPC, an organization that was created with the aim of helping those in the northwest of the Philippines to address some of the economic and livelihood issues that they have, and therefore promote activities that will lead to sustainability. The organization was founded almost 25 years ago, and its members aim to build a self-reliant community that can expand their opportunities and therefore allow the poorest of the poor to help themselves.

PMPC and Kiva have helped Dr. Johnson to fund the Dominga’s entire loan. These organizations, together with Dr. Johnson, are helping to change the lives of countless families and get them out of the poverty that surrounds them. This is mainly due to the fact that the main aim of these organizations is to provide microfinance services to those who would not otherwise be able to acquire capital for their business ventures.

Their method of doing this is quite simple, Kiva brings people together, while PMPC identifies needy individuals who people like Dr. Johnson can then help. The $125 loan that Dominga took was fully funded by Dr. Joe Johnson, and she now has the chance to continue farming and create an even better life for herself. If you would like to transform someone’s life as well, visit Kiva.org and take a look at the thousands of loans that need funding today.

Notes
1.    This article is based on https://www.kiva.org/lend/999359

A loan of $225 helped to purchase additional groceries to sell.

Dr. Joe Johnson funded a microloan to Rosemarie, a general store owner in the Philippines.

Here is Rosemarie’s Story

In the city of Tanjay in the Philippines lies a small general store that is run by Rosemarie, a hard working woman who has been in business for the last five years. In that time, her business has grown from strength to strength, and through her hard work, she has managed to support her family.

She went looking for a loan with Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc. (NWTF), to help her increase her capital by 10,000 Philippine Pesos to grow her business by purchasing additional groceries to sell. This loan has been fully repaid, and Rosemarie is now on the way to providing secure future for herself and her family.

Funding Partners

Her loan was administered locally by NWTF, a non-governmental organization that was created with the aim of helping men and women attain financial stability and self-sufficiency. Their focus on this province was mainly due to the large number of low income communities that live in the area. With an average income of just US$ 7,000, many people in the Philippines find it hard to make ends meet, let alone fund the projects that will help them make more out of their lives. Dr. Joe Johnson, through NWTF and KIVA has fully funded Rosemarie’s loan for her general store. Together with the two organizations, Dr. Johnson is helping to transform the lives of hundreds of families, and is helping to elevate them above the poverty that they see every day.

This is because these organizations, and the people that help fund them, have one common goal; to ensure that microfinance services are provided to those who do not have any access to capital for their businesses. The Kiva foundation helps to bring people together, while NWTF identifies people on the ground who need these loans so that people like Dr. Johnson can fund them.

Rosemarie’s loan of $225 has helped her move one step closer to elevating her general store business. If you would like to help transform a community in the same way, you should visit Kiva.org, and browse through the thousands of loans that are in need of urgent funding. By funding a microloan, you will be helping to transform the life of one person, their family and indeed, their community.

Notes.

1. This article is based on http://www.kiva.org/lend/1000779

Leadership traits that keep the business going

Image source: entrepreneur.com

For entrepreneurs to achieve success, they need to understand, learn, apply, and improve the following leadership traits, which should be applied to the management of their business and teams they supervise:

Confidence: Self-belief is as important as any characteristic in the business world, especially when working with a team. By trusting personal abilities and those of individual members of the team, leaders can boost team and company morale.

Persistence: Not giving up following setbacks or failures has helped the most iconic entrepreneurs, such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Creative thinking: Problems naturally occur but great leaders see them as opportunities to succeed through learning. Identifying root causes and formulating and implementing creative solutions should be welcome challenges.

Calculated risk-taking: Risks are inextricable from business expansion. Successful leaders understand, without being reckless, how to evaluate the most profitable risks to take and how to follow through on that opportunity.

Image source: joshhevans.com

Team building mindset: While most entrepreneurs establish their business on their own or with a small group of people, expanding it will entail building, supporting, and effectively managing teams.

Initiative: To become effective and efficient in handling the business, a leader needs to be self-motivated and have the desire to better himself, learn new skills and knowledge, and generally perform well.

Enthusiasm: Maintaining a high level of energy and enthusiasm allows leaders to brush off the pitfalls of doing business, and to encourage their followers to keep a positive attitude, too.

Goal-oriented: Successful entrepreneurs view the bigger picture and come up with strategies to reach realistic and well-defined goals and objectives.

Dr. Joe Johnson, founder of Welfont and GoodField Foundation, is a seasoned entrepreneur who spends equal time on his business endeavors and philanthropic causes. He holds a Ph.D. in entrepreneurial leadership and authored the book, “The Science of Why Most Entrepreneurs Fail and Some Succeed.” Follow this Facebook page for more discussions on leadership and entrepreneurship.