Thursday, October 16, 2008

My First Micro Loan

I just finished my first micro loan transaction investment towards an entrepreneur in Cambodia--through Kiva.Org.

Khin Savun, 21, is a professional who decorates handicrafts while living at home in the Phnom Penh. Since 2003, she has been using beads and other materials to make flowers on women's clothes to earn a living and typically makes US$5 each day. Decorated dresses are a kind of Khmer traditional dress and people wear them during the Water Festival, P'chum Ben or Khmer New Year. It takes around 7–10 days to complete each dress and its price is expensive. Most of the people prefer handmade than machine made. She said she learned how to decorate from her mother and she started doing this business because she was not married yet. Khin's husband is a pig breeder making around US$6 each day. The high prices of rice, fertilizers, meat and feed for animals had made his family work very hard to support the family. He said the purchase price of rice dust, soybean and other stuff for pigs are double what he used to pay, so when he sells the pigs it is not balanced with the cost of raising them. This couple hopes the government will soon take action on inflation. Khin Savun would like to take out a loan of US$1200 to expand the livestock and grow rice. She believes the investment would bring her more profit.

Good Luck to Khin!