For years, the idea of micro-financing small businesses in Haiti has been a dream. Recently, thanks to our good friend Junior Mesamours and his wife, micro-financing projects have become a reality in the Ft. Liberte community. Junior and his wife have started a local micro-financing program called the “Help Yourself Project”. Below is a brief description of the “Help Yourself Program” from Junior himself. Check it out!
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As you know I hate the “giving food and money” stuff. For in the long run it’s threatening both for the giver and the receiver because it creates dependency and kills productivity. So my wife and I decided to do something to encourage those who do a little something with less than a thousand gourdes ($30).
We give them a gift of 500 gourdes and a loan of 1,000 gourdes. They have to pay back 50 gourdes per week, so in 5 months they will pay all. That means $40 to make a difference in a small business. We will follow their progress and see how faithful they are. Those who struggle, my wife will advise them on how to make better choices in term of what to sell or so (she majored in business); and those we rate successful enough, we will lend them more so their business can be stable.
~ Junior Mesamours
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We have no doubt that this program has the potential to grow. If you are interested in getting involved with the “Help Yourself Program” in the future leave a comment on this blog post or email haitifriendsblog@gmail.com. We would love to talk to you about it!
