Hello all!
Welcome to the BLS Microloans blogspot! Here you will find all the information, updates, and discussions.
Here is a brief overview of this group.
Our Missions:
- Give out small, individual loans to people in impoverished regions
- Help them start their own businesses and help them grow
- Keep in contact with a micro-lending group, and contribute to solving their problems as their process slowly but surely pulls them out of poverty.
We are part of the MicroLoan Foundation:
- For more information, visit www.microloanfoundation.org.uk
- A London-based charity established in 2002
- Key aim: enable families to become self-sufficient by financing and helping them to launch small business projects
- Provides microfinance services in Malawi, Zambia and the Philippines
How Does This Work?
- We fundraise money through fun and meaningful events and donate the money to the MicroLoan Foundation as a “sponsor.” (Please share any ideas!)
- The MicroLoan Foundation will then send the money to people in need, mostly groups of women entrepreneurs in Malawi in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- As a sponsor, we receive email updates and track repayments online. When a loan is repaid it is recycled into new ventures, so the money that we raise can go on working for years to come.
Club/Fundraising Ideas
- Selling beads (a huge success last year; raised $1200) - we can buy beads from Project Hope (www.projecthavehope.org, has a branch in Malden) and sell them in school or public places in Boston; any leftover can be returned to Project Hope
- Bake sales at school (already approved! Thanks Faith!)
- Connect with Stand in Harmony and Invisible Children
- Dance Parties?
- (… Your Ideas!)
Discussions at Club Meetings
- Time: Once every other week (Mondays? Tuesdays?)
- Recruiting
- Movie (educational/moving) Times
- Guest speakers (arrangements made with other organizations)
- Interesting lectures on microfinance or finance in general
- Fundraising Events
