IMPACT
February 2003
A publication of Opportunity International
Banking on the poor
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in the Philippines
OPPORTUNITY MICROFINANCE BANK (OMB) in the Philippines is now serving 21,000 clients, 94 percent women, through the main office and six branches. With loans that average $138, OMB is making a dramatic difference in the lives of impoverished entrepreneurs in the Philippines. In addition to loans, OMB offers savings accounts. Our clients earn 3 percent interest on these accounts. Most loans are made through “Centers,” known as Trust Banks throughout much of the Opportunity Network. The 25 members of each Center guarantee each other’s loans and meet Each Center creates its own rules. weekly to make loan payments. They are One Center fines tardy members also required to save at least 80 cents a week. These monies are collected by 20 cents and absentees 40 cents. their elected treasurer and deposited at the nearest OMB branch. More than a Another Center established a collection point, the meetings include bereavement fund to help a training in basic business and life skills so that our clients can grow personally member when there is a death along with their businesses. in the family. Each new Center is given a six-month loan that averages $80 per member. After
In Africa today, 9,500 people will contract HIV and 6,500 will lose their lives to AIDS. . . When they die, they take with them their earning power, their human capital—and they leave behind their children. Unless we, as an international community, go to war against this killer, there will be at least 25 million AIDS orphans in Africa by the end of this decade. —Bono as quoted in Washington Post January 27, 2003
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Zenaida Jacinto is vice-chair of her Center. “This elected role has given me more confidence,” she said. She used her first loan to buy a steamer so she can sell hot dogs at her food stand. She used her second loan for supplies for her in-home beauty salon. A third loan improved both businesses. She reports that the primary benefit of her loans is that her increased income keeps her four children in school.
this loan is repaid, the Center receives a second loan totaling about $120 per member. This way, Center members can expect to enlarge their businesses with additional credit after proving they can manage a small loan. OMB program assistants start Centers and attend Center meetings to facilitate the lending and learning process. Each program assistant supports about 10 Centers. The program assistants work six days a week, attending Center meetings continued on page 2 >
INSIDE > Philippines
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Zambia
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Women’s Opportunity Fund
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