A microlending organisation worth your time and investment: Lend With Care

Lend With Care – Microlending

It’s not every day that I’m so moved by an idea that I stick with it for years. I introduce ‘Lend With Care‘ – a microfinance organisation which is helping to change people’s lives in developing countries.

How?

By giving hard-working entrepreneurs shame-free microloans with the chance to repay them at terms they can afford. Once you provide a microcredit, your chosen recipient will pay you back in installments over many months. The money goes back to your Lend With Care account, and you can either choose to reinvest that money in another person’s project or if you need the money back you can withdraw it.

What is a microloan?

A microloan is exactly what you might expect – a small amount of money loaned to a local entrepreneur which is paid back in installments like any loan. The reason these entrepreneurs are unable to get conventional bank loans is that they often struggle with the bureaucracy of dealing with banks, let alone not having sufficient credit history to prove they can repay them. For this reason, it’s sometimes impossible for these people to access money to help them get ahead.

Enter: Lend With Care.

I have not been paid to write this. I discovered this organisation many years ago and to prove how transparent I am about supporting their cause, have a look at my account screenshots below.

Phoebe’s impact on poverty

You’ll see below that I have given twenty loans and have helped a total of 58 entrepreneurs. In the entire time that my account has been active, I have given a total of nearly 500€ worth of loans, and most of that has been repaid.

Lend With Care repayments

This is in your account under ‘repayments.’ Here you see how much money your recipients have been paying back each month. When you see someone making a repayment of 55 cents, it really puts into perspective how much your microloan is a ‘helping hand’ and not a ‘hand out.’ I love that they can keep their businesses going with pride, knowing that they have supported themselves.

Your Lend With Care loans

This is where you’ll see all the people you have supported. Before you choose which loan to support, you can read their profile and decide which story sits best with you. The minimum you can give is 15 pounds, so it isn’t going to break the bank. And like I said above, if at any moment you want to withdraw your money, you can once people have repaid their loans.

Currently, my balance is sitting at around 28 pounds so after finishing this post, I will go back and reinvest the money.

How can I use my platform for good?

I feel very grateful to be able to have a platform on which I can talk to many people about the things which are important to me. This is one of the reasons I have decided to write about this today. I figured I might as well use my network and platforms for good. There are a couple of stories below for you to get an idea of the kinds of projects you can support on Lend With Care.

“My name is Dalphine Makanya. I’m 36 years old and belong to the Chitukuko women’s credit group in Kafue Zambia. ‘Chitukuko’ means development. I’m married – my husband is Hector Mwale. He is 45 and works as a delivery driver. We have 3 children together and I look after two other children. There are 7 of us living together in a rented 3-bedroom house. I started school at 7 and dropped out at 18. We got married when I was 20 and I had my first child at 21 years.

What I love about Microloan Foundation is the fair interest rate they offer, which is lower than other financial institutions I’ve worked with. Since I joined the Chitukuko women’s credit group, I have learnt how to save and how to calculate profit, loss and costs. I’m saving money to build a shop at the market on the piece of land I bought.

Before I got a 1,000 kwacha (about £82) loan from the Microloan Foundation I used to just sell groceries. Now I also sell fruit and vegetables outside my shop. My husband also supports me and helps me when I face difficulties with my repayments.”

Lend With Care Profile

Sophan and her husband work as rice farmers, and she also grows Chinese turnips. In this photo, she is preparing smoked fish for her children to take to school. This is a common food staple in rural Battambang since local people can catch the small fish themselves and then preserve them by smoking them. With her second loan from Lendwithcare Sophan was able to prepare more of her land to grow rice on and she, therefore, expects an increase in profits this year. Preparing the land for rice farming is an arduous and expensive task and usually needs to be completed within a fairly tight time-frame. With the loan, they are able to complete crucial tasks like the pumping in and out of water to get exactly the right amount, and effectively applying enough insecticide. Sophan hopes that as their farming becomes more efficient they will be able to purchase more land in the future.

Lend With Care Profile

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you didn’t know what a microloan was before reading, I hope that at the very least this gets you thinking about ways your money can make a difference.

It’s so privileged that I can go to a supermarket and not worry if my favourite brand of juice is now 55 cents higher. When I see my Cambodian recipient making a 55 cent repayment on my loan, it makes me reevaluate the entire value of my money. I personally feel that Lend With Care is a way you can ensure your gift keeps giving.

Interested in reading a Guardian article on Lend With Care? Click here.