Put a woman in business and she will put her children in school.

 

UPDATE November 2022

Microcredit

365 women are enrolled in the microcredit program, compared to 300 last year. Each of 365 women receives a micro-loan of approximately $100. We started with 4 villages in 2014 and are now up to 8. The “portfolio at risk” (the sum of late payers and defaulters, expressed as a percentage) was zero percent! That means, all 365 loans were paid back in full and on time!

Small Business Loans

As reported previously, we have invested a total of $6,500 in this fund, which finances middle sized loans of up to $1000 each on a revolving basis. As of June 2022, a total of 49 women (up from 31 last year) have taken out short-term loans. We are facing a new challenge, namely, the more we grow, the more we encounter here and there a defaulter. This depletes the fund and thus limits the number of women we can reach. We are working on solutions, and will keep you updated.

UPDATE November 2021

Microcredit

Lubuto Jumpstart Women’s Empowerment has been operating for 10 years. After what we can consider to have been a failed first attempt, we restructured in 2015. Since then, this project has become a success story, renowned in the district, with women clamouring to join. Indeed, our team cannot meet demand. Nonetheless, the team decided on a strategy of modest growth, taking on 20-30 new women per year. This project has been financially self-sustaining and growing using its own capital for the past six years. 300 women are enrolled in the microcredit program, and more want to join. Two new villages joined in July this year, and by next year there will be 320 women.

The “recapitalisation” plan we started in 2019 has caught on. This plan enables women to contribute their own funds to their capital from year to year. In 2-3 years, each woman will “own” half the capital, the other half will remain as a loan from Jumpstart. In June this year I met with over 250 women in their villages: the response was overwhelming! All of the 6 existing centers and the 2 new centers are in on this plan.

Small Business Loans

So far we have invested a total of $6,500 in this project in order to finance middle sized loans of up to $1000 each on a revolving basis. As of June 2021, 31 women had received a total of 87 cycles of short-term loans. Currently there are no defaulters.

UPDATE December 2019

Microcredit

To date, as of the end of November 2019, 260 women are enrolled in this program. The financial audit at the end of this fiscal year again showed no defaulters. All the numbers matched up, no money lost to attrition, and indeed, the loan fund grew exactly according to calculation. After meeting all 260 women in their villages, as well as brainstorming with their 10 representatives, we came up with a plan to enable women to increase the loan fund and gradually buy into their own account. In 3-5 years, the women will own half of the loan fund themselves! This project is financially self-sustaining and it is growing. Jumpstart funds are used solely to pay for an internal and external audit each year.

Small Business Loans

We invested $4,000 as seed money for this project in order to finance middle sized loans of up to $1000 each on a revolving basis. Candidates were chosen according to rigorous criteria and were mentored intensively. They have started small businesses such as trading rice acquired from Tanzania, selling mattresses acquired from the Democratic Republic of Congo, transporting fish for sale in distant markets such as Mansa and Ndola, bringing in eggs from Lusaka, and raising chickens. To date 11 women have performed well with 100% return on their first loan cycles. Unfortunately, two women defaulted, returning barely half the loan. We have enough reserve in our microcredit program to be able to take in this loss. But we have learned our lesson and will proceed more carefully in future: both the selection process and the initial mentoring need to be adapted.

Fish Farming

As mentioned last year, we turned this project over to private hands. Unfortunately, when I visited in May 2019, the project was floundering due to lack of sustained technical mentorship: they could not afford proper “fingerlings” to start the fish stock, the feed was not nutritious enough, the fish did not grow as large as desired for market purposes, there were transport and communication problems. As we had sold this project into private hands, Lubuto did not lose any money; however, we would have liked to have seen this project, which we helped jumpstart, thrive.

UPDATE December 2018

Ureka!!! Lubuto Jumpstart Women’s Empowerment microcredit project is self-sustaining and it is growing! The Lubuto microcredit program serves 250 women, with zero portfolio at risk – no late payments, no defaulters. Interest income is able to cover 100% of operational costs, and at the end of the day, there is even a bit of money left over. When I met with village women in June, we discussed the options of what to do with the surplus funds: decrease interest rates, thereby saving women money on their bi-weekly payments, or reinvest in the portfolio, so larger loans could be distributed to more women. Village women opted to reinvest. This project is now financially independent and will not require any additional donations from Jumpstart.

Small Business Loans

In September 2018, Jumpstart Switzerland started a pilot project in Small Business Loans by establishing a fund at our local Zambian partner organisation, Lubuto Jumpstart Women’s Empowerment. The amount of each individual loan ($500 – $1000) is 5 – 10 times higher than microcredit loans. Small Business Loans are eligible to women who have demonstrated a good credit rating in the microcredit project, and the interest rate/payback schedule is determined on an individual basis according to risk assessment. Loans are awarded according to the merits of the business proposal. Women are coached in preparing the business plan and closely supervised throughout the cycle. This loan fund will revolve on to other women as the initial recipients become independent after a predetermined number of loan cycles.

As of December 20th 2018, thirteen women have been approved for small business loans, seven of which have been disbursed: four women are trading small dried fish, one woman is trading rice, and another woman is raising broiler chickens. As they repay, available funds will be rolled over to the remaining 6 women, whose enterprises are: raising broiler chickens; trading grocery products, mattresses and clothes; as well as trading fish when the fish ban is over. As these thirteen women successively become self-sufficient, the funds will be granted to other women, expanding our reach.

With these Small Business Loans we hope not only to improve the welfare of the recipients, but also to promote economic development in the district.

Fish farming

Lake Mweru is over-fished. “Fish pond farming” would provide fish for market during the fish ban season (when fishing is prohibited in order to allow fish to spawn), improve nutrition, and encourage local economic development. In order to promote fish pond farming, our local Zambian microcredit partner, Lubto, gave an initial loan to a local fisherman to stock and cultivate 5 fish ponds and hire up to 10 local workers. Lubuto has engaged an aquaculture expert to provide technical advice as well as financial supervision.

The project is now in private hands financially, while under continued Lubuto technical support. We are pleased to have been able to jumpstart this local business initiative, which had previously failed miserably under government control. The first harvest is expected in February 2019. We will keep you posted!

MICROCREDIT UPDATE August 2017

At the beginning of 2016 our local partner organization, Lubuto Jumpstart Women's Empowerment, restructured: women loan recipients are now more actively involved in monitoring the flow of funds, there are fewer paid staff, and all salaries are strictly results-based. We instituted an annual audit by an independent microcredit expert. There are more checks and balances and there is more efficiency. Restructuring and focusing on fewer centres has paid off. We are now serving a total of 250 women with proven good track records over the past three to five years: our strategy is to remain at approximately 250 women, but to increase their portfolio over the next few years.

 

MICROCREDIT: How we got started in Kashikishi

Economic self-sufficiency gives women a choice.

Some of our women have chosen to insist on better conditions in the home, some have chosen to leave an abusive marriage, while some have simply earned more respect and chosen to stay.

Microcredit is not just about money.

Our Lubuto Community Worker utilizes the bi-weekly microcredit group meetings, which all loan recipients attend, to promote sexual and reproductive health by performing outreach on contraception/family planning, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and gender based violence.

 

Children at work

Village meeting

Learning about microcredit

Chandwe Centre Meeting

Signing the book after repaying loan installment

Small Business Loan recipients

Small Business Loan Repayment

Pretty woman selling fish

Fish for sale

Hot fritters

With microcredit Luckness could afford a stand in the covered market

Brooms in the making

Bread shop

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