We’re Lending with CARE®

In March 2022 The Rotary Club of Stockholm International board approved a proposal put forward by the club’s service projects committee for the club to join the Lendwithcare (LWC) micro financing programme run by CARE® International. 

By joining the LWC programme RCSI and other organisations/individuals are able to lend small amounts of money to entrepreneurs and entrepreneur groups in several low-income countries. The entrepreneurs in the LWC programme and their investment plans have been previously vetted and approved by established micro financing institutions in their respective countries. The micro financing institutions in the LWC programme have also been carefully selected by CARE®.

As of the end of April we’ve made loans to 5 different entrepreneurs/entrepreneur groups living in 5 low-income countries (Pakistan, Thailand, Malawi, Zambia and Vietnam). We plan to make further loans to other entrepreneurs over the next few months. Further on and as entrepreneurs begin to repay their loans to us we will make new loans to other entrepreneurs in the LWC programme.

The loans RCSI has made so far has helped 13 entrepreneurs and indirectly 60 family members.

Entrepreneur Spotlight

Here’s one example of one entrepreneur group in Malawi that we’ve lent money to.

The Tathandizika Group in Malawi

RCSI was one of the organisations that made a micro loan to this Group. The total amount they requested was GBP 2,919 and the repayment term agreed is 6 months.

Rotary Focus Area:- Economic and Community Development

 The members of this group were requesting their second loan from their local partner MLF Malawi to buy more stock for their small businesses. Memory is the focused member of this group. She is 46 years old. She is a divorced lady who supports 4 children and 2 orphans. Memory has been selling groceries for 13 years. Her income generating activity has made her financially independent and the proceeds she earns goes towards providing her family with basic necessities. Memory will use her portion of the group loan to purchase groceries to sell. The other members of this group will purchase snacks, vegetables and clothes. The income from her small enterprise is helping Memory to pay the school fees for her children and she has bought two motorbikes.

Click HERE for further details.

Sustainable support for entrepreneurs in Togo

Project Update #2

Since 2018 and together with a number of other Stockholm based Rotary Clubs, Rotary Club of Stockholm International has been supporting a program run by Action10 that they call “SMALL BUSINESS ENDEAVORS – TOGO”.

Following a successful fundraising effort by our clubs in 2017 we were able to inject an additional SEK 66,000 into the program that provides small scale businesses with training and help with business planning, coaching and bookkeeping. The program also provides small loans (“ActionInvest”) to help businesses get off the ground and expand. Rotary’s contribution made it possible for ACTION10 to upscale the program and currently there are 150 women entrepreneurs enrolled.

The sustainability is secured with the interest paid by the entrepreneurs on the ActionInvest loans. The 10% interest charges collected goes towards covering the cost for local advisors, business coaches and auditors. Although the loans are issued on an individual entrepreneur basis, repayments are secured by forming small groups of entrepreneurs that back each other up. This approach has proven to be extremely successful and in 2021 100% of the loans issued in that year were paid back. This means that the money paid back can now be used to provide loans to further entrepreneurs.

To read a more extensive report about the program from 2020, go to the Human Rights and Science webpage.

Here’s a link to the post we made in 2018 that provides more detail of the project and its aim.

Rotary Clubs behind this project are:- our own club RC Stockholm International, RC Stockholm Ladugårdslandet, RC Stockholm-Sergel, and Rotaract Djurgården.

Nepal Girls Education – Campaign update

We are almost there! We’ve raised over 15K SEK already and we’re well on our way to reaching our goal. We still need your help to achieve the target of 17K SEK.

Please, help us share this campaign with as many people as possible in the spirit of the Rotary motto “Service above self”. The more people who see the campaign, the more chance there is that some of them will contribute to our cause.

One of the girls that Rotary Club of Stockholm International is hoping to help with the proceeds of this campaign is Kresha Lama, a 9-year-old girl in Kathmandu. She lives with her mother and three sisters and does need our help. Her father left just after the big earthquake in 2015 when she was just one year old. Her mother works seven days a week in a hospital – cleaning. Kresha is now enrolled in the school Creative Academy but needs sponsorship. In Nepal a high School degree is crucial in order to get a good job. Unfortunately, due to social, economic, and cultural reasons, almost 80% of girls never make it to 11th grade. Girls are less likely to attend school and qualify for employment than boys. You can make a big difference by helping disadvantaged girls finish their education.

For six years, Rotary Club Stockholm International helped fund the education of three girls in Nepal. We did this through a program run by a small non-profit organization called Nepal Education run by the Swedish couple Pi-Charlotte and Svante Strindberg. They find girls in need, mostly from the villages, and place them in Creative Academy, a private, quality English school in Kathmandu. The support has been highly successful, but there are lots of girls still that need support. Help us help this girl stay in school .

The Rotary Club of Stockholm International will send your donation to Nepal Education, which will ensure that your donation reaches the girls and won’t be wasted on administration or corruption.

1. If you haven’t donated yet, please do it: even 25kr can make the difference for the girls! Click here: https://fundrazr.com/a1oAkc

2. Just as importantly, please tell your friends and family about this project, by sharing this with your social network. For those who are in Sweden and can use Swish to donate, please use the QR code below or the number 1231673789.

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