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Wassiratou Assante in Togo got one of our newest loans

Wassiratou Assante is a young woman in Lomé, the capital of Togo. She is 28 years old, married, and the mother of one child. She runs a hair salon since five years and was looking for a loan of US$225 to buy a hair dryer, some hair extensions and beauty products for resale.
We gave Wassiratou a loan of US$50 which she will pay back over the next 13 months.

Wassiratou is one of our ten new loans we allocated to entrepreneurs from 7 different countries. All of them were women, or women’s groups.

• Wassiratou Assante in Togo: $50
• Babu Francha in Sudan: $50
• Las Viviendas Group in Bolivia: $100
• Benita Lorena in Nicaragua: $50
• Melva Rosa in Nicaragua: $50
• Sari Tani Women in Indonesia: $100
• Teresita Yorong in Philippines: $50
• Ferila Failelei in Samoa: $50
• Faatau Talosaga in Samoa: $50
• Minda Maquiling in Philippines: $25

The loans were financed by the repayment of previous loans we did via Kiva.

Mary in Ghana

Mary is a 36-year-old married mother of four children. Her two sons and two daughters are still in school. Mary lives with her husband in a rented apartment in Dunkwa in the Central region of Ghana.

She trades in tubers of yam. She buys her goods from nearby towns and sells them on a table top at the market square in her community. She has been in business for over 15 years.

She requested a loan of $550 to buy goods in bulk so she could to expand her business.

Through our Kiva lending team, we were able to allocate her a loan of US$50. She was part of a series of loans we allocated this evening, which also included:

• Nyame Ye Odo women in Ghana: $100
• Afia in Ghana: $50
• Masorie Progressive Union in Sierra Leone: $100
• Angeline Mukamana in Rwanda: $50
• Cecelia in Ghana: $50
• Peace and Love women in Ghana: $100
• Sarah Naigwe’s group in Uganda: $50

These loans were financed through a repayment of previous loans.

The other members of our Kiva team have been equally active, resulting in a total loan value of $13,275, a jump of almost $1,000 in a week! Thank you all!

Last, but not least, let us welcome Jong Seung as our latest, and 23th team member. Marhaba!

Mavlyuda Nuralieva in Tajikistan

We got $725 loans repaid today, and reinvested them in new microfinance projects. As Tajikistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, we concentrated the majority of today’s loans on that part of the world.

Tajikistan is known for its rich history, which includes being a key post along the Silk Road and the end of Alexander the Great’s rule. It has also produced great thinkers, philosophers, scientists and poets, including Rudaki, Avicenna, Ferdowsi, Omar Khayyam, Jomi and Rumi. The country is home to communities that still speak the ancient Sogdian language, epic mountain passes, and a civilization that dates back to the 4th millennium BC. And, even today, it is a complex mixture of the Islamic faith, Soviet culture, New West culture and Central Asian traditions.

But Tajikistan is also the poorest of the former Soviet republics. The civil war, which ignited soon after its independence from the U.S.S.R., further damaged the already weak economy. In addition, 93% of the country is mountainous and only 7% of the land is arable. These conditions have resulted in high levels of unemployment and have forced hundreds of thousands to seek work in other countries, mainly Russia. While the people of Tajikistan are working to improve its agricultural production and manufacturing sector, nearly two-thirds of the population still live in abject poverty.

Mavlyuda Nuralieva was one of the entrepreneurs we sponsored today. She is a married mother of four children. For more than 15 years, Mavlyuda has sold the national man’s coat called “chapan” and skullcaps.

Considering that her husband works as a teacher and earns little, the business of Mavlyuda has been a valuable source of income for her and her family over the past 15 years that she’s been in business. Mavlyuda has requested a loan of 13000 Somoni to purchase new inventory. This loan will help her to continue developing her business and provide a good income for her family.

Our today’s loans are:
- Otgonbat Tseesuren in Mongolia: $50
- Remie Dupal-ag in Philippines: $50
- Nyame Ne Hene in Ghana: $100
- Suraiyo Ashurova in Tajikistan: $50
- Leoncia Arellano in the Philippines: $25
- Zulmat Alyamova in Tajikistan: $50
- Triunfadoras Women in Peru: $100
- Nasiba Arabova in Tajikistan: $50
- Monaniso Kurbonova in Tajikistan: $50
- Rano Kamilova in Tajikistan: $50
- Mavjudakhon Mavlanova in Tajikistan: $50
- Mavlyuda Nuralieva in Tajikistan: $50
- Yo Reinare women in Bolivia: $50