Archive for June 18th, 2008
Meet CAURIE Microfinance in Senegal!
By Mary Moseley
Senegal Fellow
CAURIE MF, Caisse Autonome pour le Renforcement des initiatives Economiques par la Microfinance, is a mid-size microfinance institution that serves over 15,000 clients in Senegal and as of March 31st 2008, has a loan portfolio just over $4mUSD. They are present in several regions of the country: Diourbel, Kolda, Louga, Thiès, and Ziguinchor. Their mission is to offer best practice micro-finance services to poor, female-owned micro-enterprises in primarily rural areas while investing in their own eventual financial autonomy.
CAURIE is the organizational offspring of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its primary regional partner, Caritas Internationalis. After a decade of Microcredit activities in Senegal, CRS realized that as an NGO, it would not be able to operate effectively within the realms of Credit and Savings, nor would it meet the needs of the country’s growing Microfinance market. Caritas-Thiès and CRS-Senegal then joined forces to launch a Microfinance project utilizing their program experience and after 5 successful years, decided to officially establish CAURIE Microfinance in September 2005.
A monthly meeting at one of the Village banks established by Caurie.
As a Kiva Fellow in Senegal, I’ve therefore gotten a chance to learn a lot about CAURIE and would like to introduce them to you! Read on to learn a little more about this amazing organization.
I’ve been working and living at the CAURIE Headquarters since March 2008. The director, Mamadou Lamine Gueye, has all the makings of an amazing leader: hardworking, responsive, decisive, and a nice guy to boot. Mr. Gueye has Fatoumata Binta Daniff, an ex-loan officer and accountant, spearheading the Kiva loan processing from headquarters. Mrs. Daniff is incredibly hardworking and creates each loan profile with precision and care. I think that Kiva has partnered with CAURIE at a really interesting time. CAURIE is an emerging microfinance company – it is growing rapidly. The inclusion of Kiva into its loan funding process is sure to foster their planned growth as an organization.
It’s important to note that amidst massive growth and expansion, CAURIE’s Village Bank lending methodology remains faithful to the core concepts of microfinance and, in my opinion, succeeds because of it. CAURIE lends to groups of women who form village-banking groups. Once the women organize themselves, CAURIE provides microfinance training (savings and loan methodology), improving a woman’s chance of success from day one. CAURIE has over 275 Village Banks (VBs) in Senegal with between 35 and 60 women in each. VB’s can get started in a variety of ways. CAURIE will sometimes send representatives out to villages to offer their services. Other times, groups of women approach CAURIE asking to set up a bank in their village. To begin, several informational meetings are held between CAURIE staff, the village leaders and the future borrowers. Within each Village Bank, the women split up into Solidarity Groups of between 3 and 10 women. In lieu of putting up collateral for loans, they agree to be held responsible for their fellow solidarity group members’ loans. Solidarity Groups are one of the reasons CAURIE’s loan default rate is 0% to date.
Caurie staff, Mary & clients during a monthly meeting at one of the Village banks
CAURIE’s loans are usually for a duration of 6 months and repaid by one single bulk payment at the end of the cycle. Although payments are made at the end of each loan term, the Village Banks meet monthly. During the meeting, each woman is called up to present her deposit into her savings account. Loan payments are also made in front of the group. At each monthly meeting, the members can opt to take out small loans from their Village Bank’s savings account. These monthly loans are very small and not related to the larger loans that CAURIE and Kiva lenders fund. But, small amounts like $20 US can be helpful in these women’s lives, and at each monthly meeting many of them choose to borrow a small sum to be repaid in full the following month.
Caurie staff visiting a client of a Village bank.
All women are welcome into the program and allowed a first loan of up to approximately $60 USD for a 6-month loan term. After the first loan, each borrower’s credit limit is evaluated and re-calculated based on her repayment history, their savings account balances and their experience with loans. With each 6-month cycle, the women have an opportunity to build their credit and take a larger loan or remain at whichever borrowing level is comfortable for them. I’ve met with many of CAURIE’s borrowers and loan officers. I’ve attended several monthly meetings and met with the elected management committee at each bank. The management committees are elected by the VB and are VB members themselves. All of these have been incredibly positive experiences, without exception. I believe in CAURIE’s methodology and I highly respect the hard work of the staff and the dedication of their borrowers.
Both CAURIE and the Microfinance sector in general in Senegal are growing rapidly. To date, there are over 600 microfinance institutions in the country. The beauty of Microfinance in Senegal is that it reaches out to typically under-served rural areas as opposed to traditional banking, which is primarily focused in urban areas. CAURIE is growing its loan portfolio, opening more Village Banks, and will be expanding its services to include micro-insurance this summer!
*This blog was posted on behalf of Mary Moseley*
3 comments 18 June 2008
Getting Acquainted
I packed light for my trip, because I heard what a breeze it is to buy everyday items at the local markets in Cambodia. After settling in at my guest house in Phnom Penh, I headed down to do just that at the nearby Phsar Toul Tom Poung Market, aka “Russian Market.” Why do they call it that, you ask? Apparently they don’t…
Even before I stepped outside of the entrance to my guest house, a handful of men eagerly shouted offers to drive me to my destination. I approached the driver of one of the motos parked adjacent to the building. His moto was new and shiny, so I assumed the driver probably knew his way around town.
“How much to Russian Market?”
“6,000 [riel]*. We go!” he replied, enthusiastically.
I jumped on the back of his moto. We crept to the street corner and paused awkwardly despite a clear road ahead.
“Do you know where Russian Market is?”
“Um Yes, yes, yes… This way?”
“Yes, South,” I responded, trusting that he knew his way around the city that was so new to me.
“Oooooh, okay, I take you there!” Vroooooooom and we’re off.
After 15 minutes of darting and dodging around traffic I became disoriented – still no sign of Russian Market. Admitting defeat at finding the destination, the driver pulled over to ask a nearby group of moto and tuk-tuk drivers. A bit of arguing in the native tongue, Khmer, was followed by boisterous laughter as one of the tuk-tuk drivers pointed in the opposite direction of where we were headed.
“I excuse! I go wrong way!” he exclaimed as he waved off the heckling men that clearly were entertained by our situation. The tallest one in the group joked that I should drive instead and let my moto driver sit behind me. Another man beckoned me to sit in his tuk-tuk so that he could take me to my destination. We promptly turned around and raced down the street again.
After another 5 minutes of dipping in and out of side roads and speeding up and down busy streets, we stopped to ask another local driver. Same response as before. This time we couldn’t help but laugh with him. I hoped Russian Market was at least somewhere between these last couple of pit stops.
After a few more minutes of bouncing around what seemed to be some of the more roughly-paved roads of Phnom Penh, I decided to play navigator using a tourist map and my new compass (thanks, Dad!). Picture me holding on for dear life on the back of a moto as we flew over potholes and snaked through traffic coming from all directions – all while juggling my navigation tools and trying to identify street names on store fronts.
For the record, I should never be allowed to be navigator. Ever. Some people have a knack for directions; I, on the other hand, have trouble finding my way through the supermarket. However, considering that I’m telling this story, let’s just assume that I directed us to the market with skill that even Marco Polo would envy. Let’s also assume that I have a photographic memory, sing with perfect pitch, and only date supermodels.
We finally arrived at the Russian Market and the driver and I laughed more about our unplanned adventure around town. As I reached for my wallet he dipped his head and asked, “Two dollars?”
“Two dollars?” I asked, incredulously. “You said $1.50 and even got us lost!”
“No lost, I give tour!” He joked, grinning from ear to ear. Too funny. “Fuel not cheap,” he added, apologetically.
Fuel isn’t cheap. Conversations with locals suggest that the price of gasoline here has risen by more than 65% over the past year, and drivers struggle to increase fares quickly enough to cover the cost. Factor in the rising cost of food and aggressive inflation and one quickly realizes how difficult it is to have financial security in a less developed country.
The profiles of the Kiva borrowers that I support flashed through my head as I began to realize the importance of empowering entrepreneurs to build efficient micro-enterprises. Extending loans through Kiva makes it possible for entrepreneurs such as this man to afford to keep motos well maintained, to purchase inventory in bulk, to acquire machinery that operates at higher yield… I feel proud to represent Kiva when I think about the impact on the developing world made by the Kiva community of staff, MFIs, lenders, supporters, and friends.
Even if I didn’t sympathize with his position, what is fifty-cents between strangers, if you can share a good laugh? I have never before laughed so hard at being lost – and I have been lost many times! Anyways, if you ever come to Cambodia, just remember that while it is easy to buy your daily necessities at markets, if you’re a newbie, it’s not always easy getting there!
* US Dollars are widely accepted as de facto currency in Cambodia, where the understood exchange rate is US$1 to 4,000 riel.
10 comments 18 June 2008
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