A small loan can make all the difference for impoverished families around the world. Tom Eggert, Founder and chair of the Board for Worldwise Microfinance understands this concept quite well. He says a first loan might be $200. It could help somebody start a small business venture to help their family.
But in order to get subsequent loans, that first loan must be paid back, as do the other loans that are grouped together. The idea is that a group will help eachother succeed.
“That model does work very well,” says Eggert.
His organization has provided about $500,000 over 12 years to people who might resell items, provide sewing services or products, or raise animals.
The recipients are from “communities that are desperately poor,” typically from places like Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines. Eggert measures success if “lives are better in meaningful and measurable ways.”