When Emalinda Ramos acquired “Kim Joy’s Buko Juice” from a relative 12 years ago, the business was struggling. With a background in marketing, Emalinda quickly uncovered a weakness in the company’s strategy: They were transporting the buko juice—or coconut water, a popular beverage in the Philippines—to distant markets, where significant competition drove down prices. Instead, Emalinda began to think creatively about opportunities that existed closer to home.

She contacted the owners of local factories and arranged to sell the buko juice in their cafeterias, where workers came to enjoy a mid-morning break or to eat lunch. It quickly became popular among the Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese managers, who were familiar with its health benefits. To meet increasing demand, Emalinda sought a loan from the Center for Community Transformation, HOPE’s partner in the Philippines, to purchase more coconut, sugar, and plastic cups in which to serve her juice.

As the business grew, Emalinda continued to look for ways to increase productivity. The juice used only part of the coconut, and while she was able to give some of the unused coconut meat to neighbors or local piggeries, most was discarded. To avoid this waste, Emalinda began selling buko salad, a popular dessert in the Philippines made from coconut meat. And because the salad was difficult to eat without silverware, Emalinda invented a frozen buko salad that could be eaten much like a popsicle. In 2007, Emalinda sought a larger loan from CCT to buy a truck, which she uses to transport fresh, whole coconuts more than 50 miles from the farms of Batangas to the markets of metro Manila.

For Emalinda and her husband, one of the biggest blessings of the loans has been the ability to reunite their family. Because of limited employment opportunities in the Philippines, her husband had joined the many Filipinos seeking work in other countries in order to support their family. Thanks to Emalinda’s business growth, he was able to return home from Saudi Arabia and play a more active role in raising their three children.

Today Emalinda employs seven workers in addition to her husband. Her school-age children are receiving an education, as are her employees’ children. Emalinda strives to honor God in her business, closing each Sunday. “I want myself and the workers to have time for God,” Emalinda explains. “I can see God moving in my life, and I want the workers to also experience this.”

When it comes to fighting global poverty, it often seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day. That’s why this leap year, HOPE is challenging our supporters to take advantage of the extra 24 hours to dream big: what might happen if we donated that one day’s salary to help those living in poverty Leap Forward?

Clients like Christine are using small amounts of money to take huge steps forward. With an initial loan of $60, Christine purchased a single roll of fabric, and she invested subsequent loans in expanding her selection of fabrics, diversifying into men’s clothing, and purchasing a new sewing machine. With her profits, Christine pays her children’s school feels and her family’s health care costs. She also generously tithes to her church and provides clothes to those in need.

Your extra day can make a difference for people like Christine. Visit leapfwd.us to calculate what your leap day is worth and donate that amount to help even more entrepreneurs in Congo take a Leap Forward.

In this video interview, Pedro Lacen, director of microfinance at Esperanza International, HOPE’s partner in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, discusses the unique role of Christ-centered microfinance in the Caribbean.

Several months ago, Peter Greer, HOPE’s president, sat down with Pedro to discuss Esperanza’s work in the Caribbean. In this excerpt, Pedro talks about the particular impact Esperanza and HOPE are having as Christian organizations and shares a story of how the God Provides films, shown at community bank meetings through HOPE’s partnership with Crown Financial Ministries, are impacting clients through their simple presentation of key stories from the Bible.

by Dave Wasik, vice president of operations

As I’ve made the transition to HOPE International [from the for-profit sector], I’ve been struck by the level of connectedness between ministry organizations. Even organizations whose missions seem to have nothing to do with one another invariably have some common connection: former employees, connections through churches, friends of friends. While the ministries themselves are radically different, the passion for spreading God’s Word and their welcoming spirit are universal. As a newcomer to HOPE International, it’s been so inspiring to learn about the breadth of ways that these organizations answer God’s call.

My recent trip to the Dominican Republic was an example of this connectedness. I spent four days in Santo Domingo, San Pedro, and La Romana. The primary purpose of my trip was to build relationships with Esperanza, our microfinance partner in the D.R. and Haiti. The Esperanza staff is wonderful—so giving of their time, so committed to their clients and staff, and so strong in their faith. Visiting Esperanza would have easily been worth the trip.

But wait, there’s more! While I was visiting Esperanza, a missions team from West End Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Va., happened to also be there, seeing microfinance in action and visiting client meetings in San Pedro. I live in Richmond, and while I’ve never attended West End Pres., several of my best friends from my former company are members there, and two HOPE staff members are former members. It was a real blessing to get to know the West End Pres. team and walk along with them as they saw Christ-centered microfinance for the first time.

Then I traveled to La Romana to visit with my friends Greg Murtha and Jeff Spadafora from the Halftime Institute, who were leading a coaching program there. The Institute helps leaders in the for-profit business world transition to ministry-oriented leadership positions. It was founded by Halftime author Bob Buford. Buford’s Halftime metaphor argues that when you enter the second half of your career, you are often playing a similar game but with different rules and a different scoring system. The book and the coaches at the Institute were incredibly helpful to me in my recent career transition, and it was great to reconnect with them in the D.R.

So it was an action-packed trip, a great chance for me to learn and witness the multitude of ways that God’s will is at work in so many people’s lives.

The recent articles in The Wall Street Journal, “Backlash in microlending: three agents in India are arrested for harassing borrowers” and “India’s major crisis in microlending: loans involving tiny amounts of money were a good idea, but the explosion of interest backfires,” illustrate that in the microfinance sector it all comes down to priorities: does the organization prioritize shareholders’ return or clients’ success?

Payday lenders, loan sharks, pawn shops and some financial institutions are also in the “microfinance industry,” but they are making their own interests paramount, and in the process, overlooking the clients they serve.  This is causing a backlash among government authorities and actually harming some clients.

At HOPE International, we believe these recent articles expose an ugly underside of the microfinance movement.  While we actively support creating profitable microfinance institutions, we believe a gulf is growing between a client-focused approach to microfinance and an approach that focuses on shareholder return rather than life change.

Client Focus

Several features distinguish the “brand” of microfinance that HOPE International provides:

• Channeling Profits back into the Community – When HOPE grows a profitable microfinance institution, profits are funneled directly into startup programs and into the communities of its clients.  In HOPE’s program in Ukraine, profits go directly to youth programs that provide spiritual and educational training.
• Focusing on Training – HOPE is committed to providing biblically based business training in order to educate its clients to be wise stewards of their money and to avoid over indebtedness.  According to Innovations for Poverty Action, a research nonprofit based in New Haven, Conn., borrowers who received a microfinance loan alongside business training achieved much higher levels of success than those who received only microfinance loans.
• Savings – HOPE offers innovative programs enabling families to begin saving funds so that household consumption needs are paid through savings and not interest-bearing loans. Primarily reaching women, HOPE India is focused on savings-led initiatives, and because of its focus highlighting savings, was unaffected by the recent boycott of microfinance institutions in Andhra Pradesh.
• Christ Focus – While microfinance provides economic empowerment, HOPE recognizes that it is only Christ who changes lives.  HOPE is committed to reaching its clients with a holistic approach to poverty alleviation.

Having offered our millionth loan this year, we celebrate HOPE’s success – more than that, as we look forward to offering our next million loans, we celebrate how Christ-centered microfinance will continue to transform hearts and lives.

Peter Greer is president of HOPE International (www.hopeinternational.org), co-author of The Poor Will Be Glad (www.thepoorwillbeglad.com), and executive director of the Hope Global Investment Fund, a socially responsible microfinance fund investing in the most challenging and underserved areas.