Micro-Finance Loan Type: Launch home-based snack business for local schools

For Ruria, baking home-cooked snacks and delicacies earns $25 a day. High household and education costs make it hard for her to save, and her kitchen has run low on ingredients and supplies. Ruria sought a loan as extra working capital for her bakery, and will use it to restock with all the pantry items she now lacks. More output means Ruria can continue to supply to local schools and provide for her family.

Ruria’s $825 USD 14 month micro-finance loan was paid in full.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Expand roadside snack kiosk

Alena bakes and sells snacks and treats along the roadside. With 4 school-going children to care for, she is kept busy. She sought a loan to buy more ingredients for her pastries. With more stock and containers, she was able boost the output and expand her business.

Alena dreams of a new house and a good education for her children.

Alena’s $600 USD 14 month micro-finance loan was paid in full.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Launch frozen food store

Seeing neighbors travelling far to buy frozen foods gave Seini the idea to start her business. With 4 youngsters to support, she needs the extra income.

Seini will use her loan to buy a freezer and an initial stock. She will begin supplying her neighbors with frozen products to their doorstep. She is sure that with established local demand for her products, she can fulfill her dream of running a successful enterprise.

Innovator Award

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Expand perfumery business

Being a widow with four children hasn’t discouraged Venina from running a business. She requested a loan to help expand her enterprise supplying perfumes. She saw an opportunity as her village neighbors flock to town for imported fragrance. She earns $40 USD a day on regular days, and more when there is new stock of perfumes. Her profits will help Venina provide for her family’s needs, such as housing, food, and the bills she struggles to meet.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Expand jam making business

Maureen didn't know anything about the business scene until a friend mentioned it to her. Then she saw how life-changing it can be! So she's taken it upon herself to go into business on her own. She now makes fruit jams of all kinds in the hopes of selling it to interested buyers. Her efforts help support her family, whose livelihood depends mainly on selling crops at the local market. Maureen requested financial aid to boost her business. She wants to buy a new stove, ingredients, packaging, and utensils.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Expand home-based seamstress business to storefront

Rusila is an experienced tailor who works from her home. But she can see that with a small shopfront, her enterprise would have more exposure and would be sure to attract new customers.

Rusila will use her loan to buy fabrics, threads, and other tailoring equipment. She hopes that eventually she will be able to work full-time as a tailor, generate a good income from it, and invest its profits into the business.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Launch frozen food business

Seeing neighbors traveling far to buy frozen foods gave Semaema the idea to start her business. With five youngsters to support, she needs the extra income. Semaema will use her loan to buy a freezer and initial stock, and begin supplying her neighbors with frozen products on their doorsteps. She is sure that with established local demand for her products, she can fulfill her dream of running a successful enterprise.

Semaema’s $500 USD 14 month micro-finance loan was paid in full.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Expand food delivery service

Mereoni is an enterprising woman. She prepares ready-to-eat meals at home, then packs and delivers them to local offices and other workplaces. A loan will enable her to buy extra ingredients to expand this catering venture and its income and improve her family’s living conditions.

Mereoni's priority is her children’s education. A successful snack and meal service will ensure she can meet their school fees.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Launch food delivery service

Marica struggles to get by on whatever income she can pull together. To bring extra money into the household she sought a loan to start a food delivery business, cooking lunch packs at home and selling them to village neighbors and workers in town. The money she earns will help ease her burdens and make life a little brighter for her two children.

Innovator Award

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Launch vacuum-packed mussels business

Fresh-water mussels commonly known as Kai is a delicacy that is famous to all Fijians of all races. Kelera lives in a village that is one of the main suppliers of Kai to the local markets. She has mastered the techniques and now wishes to sell washed and frozen mussels. Kelera hopes to attract customers with her unique approach of vacuum packing and freezing it in custom-made packages. She is excited about the opportunity to launch her innovative business.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Launch jewelry making business

Laisa's talent for handicrafts presents her with an attractive business opportunity. She loves to create necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelry, and she is seeking a loan to buy raw materials to start making them commercially.

Her husband is fully supportive of her plans. Together they hope to earn enough money to support their family and provide more financial security for the future.

Micro-Finance Loan Type: Launch silkscreening business

Like all parents, Adi Mo and her husband want the best for their four young children. To augment his wage as a farmer, Adi Mo has started a screen printing business. She will use this loan to buy materials to boost the output of her wares.

They want to stop renting and build their own home before the children’s education absorbs too much of the family income.