It took me a little while to understand the framework we're using to serve entrepreneurs here in Kenya. And if this is what I do full-time, I can't imagine how you, my family and friends, are able to figure it out from a distance by piecing together blog posts and newsletters. With hopes to give you a clearer picture of our work here, I'd like to profile one of our partner business groups - Githia Rural Agro Finance Group - and explain how we serve its members.
Gitithia started as a ministry by a pastor of a small country church who wanted to help his parishioners find ways to start businesses and employ others in the community. This humble beginning belies the now eight branch, 2,500 member savings and credit cooperative. With locations spreading across three provinces -Nairobi, Central, and the Great Rift Valley - entrepreneurs at any given time are using around $1 million worth of capital to start or grow their business. The majority of these funds come from members' savings. Partners Worldwide serves as a supplement to their savings, helping meet loan demand during difficult times like the months of violence following the recent presidential election.
While this broad picture is helpful in understanding Gitithia's size and scope, it is not the way most business owners view the organization. Members identify most with their local branch and cell group. In cell groups, entrepreneurs have fellowship, discuss difficulties and offer support to each other. Fellow cell group members also often co-sign each other's loans. Trainings and business counseling take place within each branch. A good example of this is the financial management seminar that my dad put on for the Kimende branch.
Gitithia's leadership invited my dad, both a businessman and a farmer, to share with the group of farmers and micro-enterprise owners why keeping books is important. He also gave them practical ways to organize records and how to use them in business planning. The training was a hit and members stuck around afterwards to seek further advice on their businesses. We are looking forward to a followup meeting with the business owners to go over their records for the month of January. With this information, decisions can be based on numbers instead of hunches.
Beyond the assistance we provide to the business owners themselves, Partners Worldwide works directly with our partners' boards of directors and management personnel. In mid-January, we helped Gitithia's board analyze their priorities and begin focusing on what was both urgent and important to managing their recent growth and entrance into urban areas. Together we concluded that creating several new loan products, updating savings incentives, and improving loan tracking and recovery would help them better meet their members' needs. In the coming weeks, we will be helping Gitithia's staff to take action on these three items. We've actually almost finished implementing new loan tracking software. One down, two to go. Other ways we've served the management: helping put on trade fairs, assisting in surveys of the membership, and creating newsletters.
You might be asking yourself how this model compares to other micro-finance institutions. During my experience I've found that these elements make Partners Worldwide stand out from the rest:
-We only work with groups whose mission is to serve God by serving people. Members are often Christian, but sometimes Muslim, Sikh or have traditional African beliefs. What a wonderful opportunity to witness! Meetings are started with prayer and worship. True fellowship is exemplified in cell groups. Grace and mercy are shown when members with loans hit hard times. When banks, other micro-finance institutions and loan sharks would snatch up collateral at the earliest signs of default, we help refinance and find mentors for these members.
-Partners Worldwide doesn't lend money and sit back waiting for it to be repaid. We get in their and help educate and equip business owners to open that second location, plant that new crop, or buy that new piece of equipment.
-Some U.S. based organizations like to dictate what happens in each project in each country where they work. Our model is based on the idea that the closer a decision is made to its benefactors the better the decision. That's why North American partners visit their counterparts in the developing world - so they can transfer their skills and experiences to educate decision makers overseas.
-Businesspeople crave ways to serve. Most missions involves health care, education, skilled carpentry and preaching, leaving other professions to paint walls or pound nails. Experienced entrepreneurs have a wealth of knowledge that, if given the chance, could be used to help grow businesses and create jobs. Partners Worldwide gives businesspeople this opportunity. Offering a helping hand rather than a handout is a sustainable way to serve the poor.
I could go on, but hopefully this gives you a better understanding of what it is we're doing over here. I'd love to discuss this, so post any questions in the comments!
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