11- Đông Sơn Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Huệ Trịnh Thị group, consisting of Huệ Trịnh Thị, Ngọc Lê Thị, Liên Hoàng Thị, Huệ Lâm Thị, Lợi Lê Thị, Lanh Đinh Thị by Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women (TCVM), a partner of Save the Children in Viet Nam. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 6 months of this loan, Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women (TCVM), a partner of Save the Children will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Chị Lê Thị Ngọc là nhóm trưởng nhóm 11 ,phường Đông Sơn .Chị có 2 con ,các cháu đều đang đi học .Chị có quầy hàng quần áo trong chợ ,sau khi được vay vốn chị tiếp tục mua thêm nhiều loại quần áo có mẫu mã khác nhau để phục vụ tốt hơn nhu cầu của khách hàng.Mỗi một chiếc chị bán ra có thể thu được lợi nhuận là 10.000VNĐ(~0.57USD), trung bình mỗi ngày chị bán được 8 cái ,sau khi trừ chi phí mỗi ngày chị có được 50.000VNĐ(~2.87USD),với số tiền này đã gúp chị giảm bớt khó khăn hơn .Chị mong muốn được tiếp tục vay vốn cao hơn để mở rộng thêm quầy hàng,tăng thêm thu nhập.

Chị Hoàng Thị Liên tiếp tục đầu tư vốn cho quầy hàng tạp hoá của mình,với số vốn vay được đã gúp chị mua tăng thêm được số lượng hàng ,thu nhập củat chị cũng được tăng thêm.

Chị Trịnh Thị Huệ đã dùng số tiền vay để mua thêm các loại bát đĩa để bán trong chợ,trước đây vì có ít vốn nên chị chỉ bán một số loại ấm chén .Sau khi mở rộng thêm mặt hàng này thu nhập của chị cũng đã được tăng lên.

Chị Đinh Thị Lanh đã dùng số vốn vay để mua bánh mỳ bán tại chợ Đông Thành,mỗi sáng chị bán được 100 cái bánh mỳ và lợi nhuận thu được là 900.000VNĐ/tháng(~51.7USD).

Chị Lê Thị Lợi dùng số vốn vay được để mua thêm hàng chăn,ga ,gối để bán ,mỗi ngày thu nhập của chị tăng thêm 17.000VNĐ(~1USD)

Dear Lender,

Thank you for supporting the Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women!

The Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women (FPW) is a relatively new partner to the Kiva platform, having posted its first loan in November 2008. Since then, FPW staff have worked diligently to integrate Kiva into their operations and we are happy to announce that FPW has recently been approved for active field partner status on Kiva! Expect to see an increase in FPW activity on Kiva.org over the next few months.

Since February 2009, I have been serving in Thanh Hoa as a Kiva Fellow, assisting FPW through this process. Now that I’m at the end of my fellowship, I would like to share a simple revelation. What I have discovered through meeting and speaking with the borrowers here is that although the current financial crisis may suggest otherwise, finance, and in this case microfinance, in Thanh Hoa, is not always that dramatic. I am not leaving here as expected, with hallmark stories of adversities conquered, but I have met real women and seen how these simple, elegant loans return to them a small but significant power.

The need and impact of micro loans is known to differ from borrower to borrower. FPW’s clients represent women with differing circumstances and vary in the degree to which their loans have impacted their life. This microfinance mosaic of users, uses and value is well represented by the women from Group 41 Quang Hung, one of the first groups that I visited in Thanh Hoa.

Ms. Vũ Thị Kim Chung is the leader of Group 41 Quang Hung Commune and represents one end of the spectrum. Ms. Chung, like most Vietnamese women, engages in multiple income producing activities. She is primarily a worker in Le Mon Industrial Zone, working 18-20 days a month, transporting fertilizer on and off train cars and earning a relatively high income of ~1.800.000 VND ($103 USD) per month. The work is hard and she sounds like someone who understands the weight of world finances when she states plainly that “it’s a job” and she’s grateful for it. Although her family could survive without any additional income, Ms. Chung still chose to take out a loan and increase her workload voluntarily to, on a good day, earn an additional ~60.000 VND ($3.50 USD) by selling fruit and raising animals.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have Ms. Hương Nguyễn Thị. Ms. Hương lives in the same commune as Ms. Chung but her economic position is quite different. Ordinarily, she works in her family’s woodworking shop and raises animals for resale. Together, the family is able to generate sufficient income. This past year, however, her family has faced extraordinary circumstances, with her eldest son (aged 4) falling ill with an ocular condition in April 2008. The family traveled to Hanoi for treatment, only to find that their son was too young to have the surgery. Although her son’s base medical expenses were covered by the government, the costs of transportation, accommodation and food were left to the family. Her previous loans from FPW and this most recent loan from Kiva have helped her and her family manage these sudden expenses.

Reflecting on the two loans above, Ms. Hương’s story is more akin to those you read in Muhammad Yunus’s books, but Ms. Chung’s story is the norm here at FPW. The loan has not saved her from starvation, homelessness or illness, but has simply given her the option to earn a little more. Though a seemingly small return on her investment, it represents her hard work and most importantly, access to the resources and right to earn it.

Thank you again for providing the capital to lend to women in Thanh Hoa! Please consider lending to one of the currently fundraising loans from FPW.

I recently visited 11 Dong Son Group and would like to share an update with you.

We found Trinh Thi Hue, the group leader, sitting in between a stall lined with assorted spices and a stand selling sets of baby clothing. Interviews at the market are some of the most interesting that I have had. It’s amazing to watch the women in action as they answer questions and make change for customers at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking!

With her youthful energy, Ms. Trinh tells me that she “sells everything!” At 60 years old, she recently expanded her stall with an impressive variety of kitchenware – pots and pans, fish sauce (nuoc mam), teapots, spices, mops, rice cookers, scissors, chopsticks, dishwashing liquid…the list goes on…

Ms. Trinh has been operating her business for more than 10 years. She says that the market is like her second home. She has no intentions of retiring any time soon because her profits are needed to pay for her daughter’s tuition and lodging fees at Hanoi University. This is her second loan from FPW and Ms. Trinh estimates that her monthly profit has grown from 1,500,000 VND ($84 USD) to 1,800,000 VND ($101 USD) since taking out her first loan.

I was also able to visit several other group members.

Ms. Ngoc has a stall filled with adorable baby clothing. This is her first loan with FPW.

Ms. Lien sells spices and a wide assortment of food at her stall. Although the recent loan has helped her buy more merchandise, she told me that she has had to take out additional loans from family members to fund her business.

Ms. Lanh sells bread near the local university center. She says she lowers the prices for students. While the normal price is 5,000 VND ($.28 USD) a loaf, her student price is 4,000 VND ($.22 USD) per loaf. Her two children are 10 years old and 6 years old.

Ms. Hue and Ms. Loi both sell products at the market. They were unable to attend the meeting because they were out purchasing merchandise.

It was a pleasure to visit this group of entrepreneurs and learn about their businesses. Thank you for your continued support!

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I will be serving as a Kiva fellow for the next 3 months at the Thanh Hoa Fund for Poor Women. Lack of capital is the most common challenge for the poor households in this area of Vietnam. FPW provides client-oriented financial services to a large number of poor women who have ability to work but lack loan capital and women who cannot access any formal finance services. To view a list of the currently fundraising loans from FPW, click here

Please consider joining the Vietnam Critical Mass Lending Team to support entrepreneurs in Vietnam!

Read more about the Kiva Fellows’ experiences across the world on The Kiva Fellows Blog.