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.