Archive for March 18th, 2008
Meet a Loan Officer
Loan officers are an integral part of the microfinance process. Without the hard work of loan officers, reaching the poor with financial services would not be possible. However, loan officers typically do not get very much attention. With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting for you to meet a friend of mine at YOSEFO to help give you a better understanding of how loan officers fit into the microfinance process.
At YOSEFO, each loan officer is assigned a community center. There are 13 centers serviced by the Dar es Salaam branch scattered throughout the urban area, primarily in poorer communities. During the week, each loan officer travels to their community center to have sessions with their clients. Each session consists of 40 clients, so loan officers typically meet with at least 400 clients every week. While conducting the community banking centers they collect repayments, disburse loans, and deal with issues that clients are facing. After traveling to the field, officers return to the YOSEFO office to record and process the transactions that took place throughout the day. The process can be tedious, but is crucial to ensure that collections, disbursements and defaults are recorded with the greatest possible accuracy.
Name: James Mwenda
Age: 27
Hometown: Njombe, Tanzania (Iringa Region)
YOSEFO Center: Vituka
Educational background: B.A. Geography and Environment
Favorite food: Ugali and Beef
Interests: Football, Traveling, Seeing new places, Singing, Gospel music
Future plans: I hope to return to University and obtain an M.B.A. in Human Resources Management
On working as a loan officer:
“Working as a loan officer is a challenging, but rewarding experience. I work with a very diverse group of clients that have different backgrounds and characteristics. My clients all respond to issues differently, and so it is often a challenge to learn how to deal with each client appropriately.
Not long after clients receive loans, I am able to observe improvements in their standard of living. It is not difficult to see actual physical improvements in my client’s live as a result of receiving loans. For example, some of my clients have been able to pay school fees for their children, and others have been able to purchase land for the first time. It is also rewarding to see my client’s ability to pay back loans improve over time as they graduate to larger and larger loans. Ultimately, working as a loan officer gives me the opportunity to learn the process of community development. I am able to actively organize and spearhead social development in the community.”
3 comments 18 March 2008
Soccer Does Promote Social and Economic Development
During my initial days here in Mozambique, while Bernardo was explaining me Hluvuku’s background and current position, he mentioned investments in a soccer team. Immediately I remembered all the NGOs that operate in Brazilian slums and their effort to promote sports (99% of the time soccer) and music. I though that soccer worked in Brazil because of the fame it has and because many star players come from those slums. I never actually imaged how far it could reach and how thoughtful this method could be.
Hluvuku is divided in 4 departments, as below. The 3 profitable ones are committed to give 10% of their monthly profits to Hluvuku’s social department.
- Microfinance: offering microcredit and micro-leasing
- Services: offering services to clients (such as tractors to help in their harvest)
- Production: raising cattle and selling meat in the region at a lower cost
- Social: promoting the soccer team of Bela Vista village and other community gatherings and traditional parties (below a picture of Hluvuku’s social center)
I must admit that my first reaction as a Brazilian girl used to having men talking all the time about soccer was to think that the choice of soccer was mainly because of Bernardo’s personal taste or because most of Hluvuku’s staff are men. Those might even be the true reasons, but it doesn’t matter!! Today I realized that soccer is an incredible way of promoting social and economic development, in any where in the world.
The Bela Vista team is already playing for a year now, and because of their great performance as beginners last year, they were given the chance to play Mozambican’s national second division championship this year. Yesterday a couple of representatives of this championship where here in Bela Vista checking the field’s conditions, as there will be a couple of games played here! More than an opportunity for a few young men to play and do something on their spare time, this will be an amazing opportunity for the village to grow and become known again.
Bela Vista used to be an important city before Mozambican civil war, if you get any map of Mozambique, it will always point Bela Vista just below Maputo. But the war simply destroyed it: almost all the brick houses where put down or abandoned and 16 years weren’t enough to rebuild it.
This simply choice of a soccer team was all but a personal or naïve choice. It will put Bela Vista back in the map. It will promote economic development through increase in people flow. It will help all Kiva borrowers that have grocery stores and will help local lodges to develop (today there is just 1 guest house with 4 rooms). It will also promote social development through the sense of one unit country, no more local tribes that have never been to each other villages.
The championship will begin in April. I already have a team to support! I will let you know how Hluvuku Futebol Clube goes!!
Ate mais.
2 comments 18 March 2008
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