First SIGU loan distributed!
Last Thursday was a big day! My SIGU team made our first loan!
Pic I took at distribution for the Kiva profile
The distribution meeting lasted about 1 hour. The credit officer and branch manager reviewed the loan terms and each woman received a passbook in which to track their repayments. The women signed the loan agreement with a thumb print in exchange for $145. The smiles on their faces got bigger and bigger as the meeting went on.
Sealed with a thumb print
The story behind the formation of the Circle Cambodia sewing cooperative is pretty incredible. This loan will become a Kiva loan, and I am including the write-up I did for the business profile in my next blog post. I can imagine this loan will be snapped up pretty quick when it goes live tomorrow but if you have any credit in your Kiva account sitting unused tomorrow would be a great day to use it!
Sewing into a brighter future
We distributed the loan around 11 am and the girls were bursting with excitement about their afternoon trip to the market to purchase their sewing machines. One of the girls explained to me that they were looking for used machines rather than new ones because the older Japanese models are of better quality than the newer Chinese releases. The girls though they could get a discount if the purchased in bulk and they hope to use the extra savings to buy an “edging device” for communal use.
I have a bunch of meetings and travel coming up that will require dressing up and I need some spiffy new work duds. I had planned on a trip to the market on Saturday to drop off a blouse and pair of dress pants to be copied, but it dawned on me that for the same price I could take the clothes to Circle Cambodia. I went back to the loan distribution site on Monday and wow what a difference 2 days had made! The empty work space was now full with 5 desk, 5 sewing machines, and fabric, thread, and measuring tapes everywhere! So cool to see. I’m proud to be one of Circle Cambodia’s biggest fans – and one of their first customers!
