Ashtead Rotary Club has created 220 jobs in Africa, Asia and South America
How? Through Lendwithcare, a UK charity, Ashtead Rotary has invested £1,250 to fund loans to striving individuals like Mrs Seat, who lives in Cambodia. The farmers and small business owners to whom we lend borrow at a low cost and nearly all are repaying. As loans are repaid we recycle them to new loans increasing the impact of our investment; In the last three years we have lent £1,850 and helped fund 60 loans – our investment has created over 200 jobs and helped 950 people.
Mrs. Seat Un has been a farmer for 10 years. She and her husband live in Ek Phnom District of Battambang Province, in Cambodia. Every year, they cultivate short-term rice and green beans for sale. At 38 years old, she has two children aged 14 and 18. Her youngest attends school, while the older child is involved in farming.
She and her husband grow short-term rice crops on a plot of land measuring 3,200 square meters, enabling them to cultivate twice a year and yield rice for local sale. In addition to their rice cultivation, they manage another farming plot spanning around three hectares, dedicated to growing watermelons and green beans. These crops have a growth cycle of approximately 90 days before being ready for sale.
As the planting season for watermelons and green beans approached, and due to limited financial resources, Mrs. Seat requested a £1,000 12-month loan from the local Microfinance provider that was funded in part by Ashtead Rotary through Lendwithcare, part of Care UK, a UK charity.
The loan was used to acquire essential farming inputs such as fertiliser, pesticides, weed killers, and diesel for the tractor. The loan covered both land preparation and harvesting expenses and was fully repaid on time.
Lendwithcare connects individuals and Clubs like Ashtead Rotary with Microfinance providers around the world who provide small loans to individual entrepreneurs and farmers. By “funding” loans at a zero interest rate our Club’s money allows the local loan providers to lend more at lower interest rates. Microfinance is a proven method of providing loans in competition with more traditional “payday loan” type providers who charge high interest rates.; and because the Microfinance providers are close to the borrowers there is a much lower than normal risk of loans going to unreliable borrowers who default.
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