FINCA CANADA Launches ‘Text to Give’ Campaign to Help Low-Income Female Entrepreneurs Survive the Pandemic.

MARGARETTE first became a FINCA Haiti client in 2006, because she wanted to give her three children a better life. Her big dream was for her children to go to school so they could have a better future. Back then, Margarette

supported her children with a small business from her house in Aquin, selling meat as well as some hardware items. But this business never made her much money, and she wanted to earn more to pay for school fees. When

Margarette heard about FINCA in a meeting at her church, she knew it could be her chance. She got together with some neighbors, and they formed the Fanm Aksyon (Women of Action) FINCA Village Banking group.

Margarette used her first FINCA loan of 4,000 gourdes ($105) to buy cosmetics in Port-au-Prince to sell in Aquin. She was very successful, so FINCA increased her second loan amount to 8,000 gourdes ($210), which she used to buy cosmetics in bulk from a wholesaler. This allowed her to get better prices, keep an inventory, and offer a wider selection of products. As a result, her profits grew every month.

Margarette says the first time she borrowed from FINCA, she was afraid that she would never be able to repay so much money. But she did, and over the years, she was able to borrow more. Her confidence grew as she found that she was able to pay back every loan. She is using her most recent loan of 120,000 gourdes ($3,150), with a nine-month repayment period, to continue expanding her cosmetics and hardware businesses, to buy equipment for a new butcher shop, and to pay for a motorcycle and driver’s salary—another new business.

Thanks to her hard work and her FINCA loans, Margarette has been very successful. She bought a small house in Port-au-Prince for her children, so they can go to a better high school than the one in Aquin. She visits them whenever she has to buy merchandise in Port-au-Prince. Rachelle is now in eleventh grade; her son Enoch is in tenth,

and her daughter Ruth is in ninth grade. She used some of her earnings to buy a plot of land in Aquin and two cows. She is even saving to pay for Rachelle’s wedding.

Margarette says, “I am proud to be a FINCA client, and I love what FINCA has done for me and for other Haitian women.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her future is uncertain. With social distancing in effect and no expectation of public bailouts for small business, unemployment insurance, or a stimulus check program, Margarette needs to make a choice between feeding her family and putting herself and others at risk.

She is not alone as forty-one percent of FINCA’s 2.7 million borrowers are female, typically operating retail and trade businesses that are expected to be hardest hit by the pandemic. FINCA projects that 120,000 small and micro-businesses of its female customers will be destroyed. Global gains in women’s financial inclusion will be at risk, local communities will lose these trusted businesses, and female borrowers with unpaid loans will find it nearly impossible to obtain credit to start anew.

On a positive note, some FINCA entrepreneurs have pivoted their business to not only contribute to the COVID-19

response but also to keep their business viable. For example, there are several FINCA supported seamstresses in DR Congo that are now making face masks.

To support these efforts, FINCA Canada Emergency Response Fund will offer Business Expansion Loans to customers who can expand or adapt their businesses to meet urgent community needs during the pandemic and in its aftermath. The Emergency Respond Fund will also provide Starter Loans and Starter Business Kits to low-income women entrepreneurs to rebuild their business once commerce resumes.

To support the fund, FINCA Canada is launching our Text to Give Campaign to rapidly raise $1,000,000 for women and their families in developing countries impacted by COVID-19. This campaign will commence on May 05, 2020, on #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving and unity when the world stands in solidarity in response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.

To participate, text FINCA to 30333 today and donate $10 to FINCA Canada and support communities in need. After the donation is complete, your wireless carrier will automatically add $10 to your monthly bill and forward your donation to FINCA Canada.