What an Exciting Day!! It has been a long and prayerful journey to get to this point, but yesterday Tigist was awarded the first loan from her Self Help Group (SHG), in order to help her family launch their business.
I cannot tell you HOW PERSONALLY EXCITED I am that we have reached this important milestone!! So many of us serving with Hope for Korah have been working for numbers of years, towards this crucial step that we believe is key in order for our families to become independent and break out of the cycle of poverty they are in.
This is a BIG milestone, for Tigist, her husband AND her SHG! To apply Tigist had to follow the by-laws that her Savings & Credit SHG has been developing over this past year. This includes being a member in good standing and having consistently invested (for a minimum of at least 10 months) into the SHG savings account the required weekly amount as voted for and decided upon by all of its' members. In addition, Tigist had to present a written business plan and must have already invested into the SHG's group savings at least 50% of her requested loan amount. The group then decided on whether to approve the loan, as well as the terms of repayment. Understanding these concepts, developing SHG by-laws and personal business plans, learning to save both personally and into the SHG, believing in oneself, and then being willing to take a risk and trust each other with these concepts has been a very long process and this is a HUGE step for all of our families! Beylanesh, who is in Tigist's SHG concluded yesterday's meeting by sharing, "It is a pleasure to see someone from our own group and community being successful. It makes our group proud!"
We couldn't agree more!!
Tigist and members of her Savings & Credit Self Help Group
Two Weeks Ago
Tigist and her husband Lemma have been working on their business plan for the last 18 months but it has taken until now for both the family and their SHG to be ready for this next big step. A few weeks ago, we met with the family, finalizing the last details of their business plan and what was required to make it a reality. We were all so excited to be at this point!
We'll keep you posted on Tigist's progress on this journey!
Comments
Post a Comment