ESPOIR via WCCN's Capital for Communities Note
Loan
Nonprofit creating economic opportunities for micro-entrepreneurs and farmers in Latin America
Founded in 1984, Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) is a nonprofit organization that empowers low-income Latin American entrepreneurs and small-scale farmers through access to microcredit and fair trade markets by sustaining partnerships with Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and Farming Cooperatives in Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru.
Summary
Working in rural indigenous communities, ESPOIR provides training and financing to help women band to together to start a Community Bank. The women meet bi-weekly to repay their loans and to receive ongoing financial and personal development education. With an average loan size of just $422, ESPOIR is serving the poorest of the poor.
Social Impact
ESPOIR helps turn indigenous women deemed “un-bankable” by conventional standards into successful businesswomen, running their own businesses and successfully repaying their loans.
People who are self-motivated join together to form a Community Bank (a minimum 16 members are needed to form a Community Bank). ESPOIR provides the members financial management training and classes on how to run their bank. The members are in charge of disbursing loans, collecting payments, and recording savings deposits. Once the training period is complete ESPOIR provides the capital for the individual loans and members guarantee repayment for each others' loans. The members meet twice a month to repay their loans and to receive ongoing personal development education in health, business, adult education, community development and human rights initiatives. Some Community Bank members, who do not have outstanding loans, attend the meetings just for the ongoing personal education.
Yes, 98% of our clients have successfully repaid their loans.
Impact Example
Margarita Jendi, of the Tsáchila indigenous community of San Carlos Ecuador makes traditional jewelry from seeds and beads. The seeds come from various plants in Ecuador, primarily from the Amazon. As a member of the Community Bank of San Carlos, she was able to secure her first loan for $400 in 2008 to buy supplies. Since, 2008 her business has grown dramatically. Her most recent loan was for $800 to purchase equipment: a drill, to make the necessary holes to string the seeds; and a machine to polish the seeds. With her increase in sales, Margarita is able to employ women in her Community Bank to help make the jewelry. With future loans, she would like to have a stand in the market selling her jewelry and traditional food.
