Meet Loveline, HOPE Congo’s first loan officer supervisor.  Loveline played a valuable role in assembling and training the first 50 clients, and she is also managing and training the current staff of two loan officers.  She provides an important layer of internal controls and efficiency for HOPE Congo’s work.  Honestly, when I think about Loveline, the first phrase that comes to mind is “rock star.”

If you go into the markets, the churches, les quartiers (neighborhoods), she knows and is known by everyone.  She’s the kind of confident, striking woman that you automatically respect and listen to, but she’s also gentle, smiles often, and has a good sense of humor. Continue Reading…

Meet Simon.  Simon was among HOPE Congo’s first group of microfinance clients in Brazzaville.  He sells sandals from a low table on a dusty street in the clothing district of Brazzaville’s largest and most important open-air market, Le Marche Total.  He uses the modest profits from his business to help support a family of six people, including his first grandchild.

Simon has been selling sandals for quite some time now, but before working with HOPE Congo, he had never accessed a small business loan.  He put his first loan to work to increase the selection and size of his inventory.  Now, just a week after receiving his loan, his small stand is more eye-catching, and his stock sits a few inches off the ground on a low table.  He is hopeful that he’ll be able to capitalize on what he learned through his biblically-based loan training sessions to make wiser business decisions and successfully repay his loan.  One of the training elements that stood out to him most was HOPE’s emphasis on savings.  “This is an advantage for clients, and it is unique,” he explains.  “We are generally not encouraged to save.  We spend money as we get it.  I learned that if I plan and save, I will be able to do a better job with my business, and I will be able to repay, get more loans and grow.” Continue Reading…

Some savings and credit associations groups’ members contribute just pennies a week, but together they are learning to manage their money and effectively save what little excess they may have.

Brotherly love, like the city of Philadelphia, can sometimes be an enigma. Brothers fight. Philadelphians can be rude.

Living in the same Rwandan village there were two brothers, neighbors, who would not talk to each other. Their families would not talk to each other, and their children were not allowed to play with each other. I don’t know how the feud started, and there’s a good chance that they don’t know either, but these things have a tendency to die hard. Continue Reading…