99% of all sub-prime loans are repaid in full …in Malawi in Africa
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Former financial executive Clive Hughes will explain why sub-prime loans could be one of the best financial innovations devised at the MicroLoan Foundation Australia (MLFA) Awareness Day on Thursday 30th April in Martin Place, Sydney.
At the Awareness Day (11.30am-2.30pm at the Amphitheatre in Martin Place) Clive, former CEO of a Sydney property company, will explain the brilliant concept of micro loans, which are made to the poorest of the poor who have no income, no assets and no job, (so called “NINJA” loans) and how 99% of all MicroLoan Foundation loans are repaid in full with interest.
MLFA provides small loans (otherwise known as microloans), basic business training and continuing guidance to groups of women in Malawi. They launched in August last year and are supported by world patron, Sir Bob Geldof, and Australian patron, Simon Tedeschi.
These loans are made to entrepreneurial, but poor, women who have the ability and motivation to make modest amounts of money so as to improve their lives. They use their small profits to put an extra meal on their families’ table, school their children or even build their first house.
At the Awareness Day Clive will introduce MLFA, and take you on a journey to one of the poorest yet most beautiful and friendliest countries in the world – Malawi. He will describe what MLFA has done there and what it will be doing in the future. Finally he will point out that, far from being a high risk category, poor borrowers are some of the most reliable clients a financial institution can have.
Clive explains
“MLFA has a “different approach to charity”, indeed it is the charity that doesn’t give, it merely lends a tool to the poor that the rich take for granted.
If you believe that a poor illiterate black woman in Malawi could be just as capable and motivated in her local business world, as a rich, highly qualified, white man in his western business world, you will understand why micro loans work.
Mind you given how clever the “professionals” in Wall Street have been over the last few years it might be unfair to women in Africa to make such a comparison!”
Report from the ground in Malawi
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Wesley McCoy is referred to as ‘Our Man in Malawi’ by the MicroLoan Foundation. As he explains on his blog, he left his job in asset management in London last year to do volunteer work for the MicroLoan Foundation in Malawi as their Development Director in Southern Africa. His blog gives some real insight into the work that MLF does in Malawi and what it’s like to live there. Read his blog at http://ourmaninmalawi.blogspot.com/
MLFA Patron Simon Tedeschi awarded Legacy Prize
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
We’re delighted to report that our patron in Australia, Simon Tedeschi, has been awarded the Legacy Prize from the Creativity Foundation, to be presented by Lisa Randall, one of the most promising theoretical physicists of her generation.
Benjamin Franklin’s Legacy is the symbolic link from extraordinarily creative Laureates, who explain and inspire creativity, to those curious, innovative and motivated individuals at the start of their careers who deserve greater recognition, encouragement, and mentoring.
The Legacy’s Mission derives from the 1789 codicil to Benjamin Franklin’s will, which helps creative youths advance to fulfill their potential and to perpetuate the Mission. The Legacy provided a fund for awarding silver medals to outstanding students in the Boston Free Grammar Schools, including Boston Latin, the boys’ school where Franklin’s formal education ended at age ten. Benjamin Franklin silver medals have been presented in Boston annually from 1793 to the present.
The Creativity Foundation Junto has invigorated and expanded Franklin’s Legacy beyond the Boston area to include additional high schools, universities, institutions, and service organizations (in Simon’s case, the Longy School of Music). Each of these selects an individual whom it judges outstanding in their approach to their disciplines. They must show great creative promise and inspiration in their endeavors in the arts, humanities, science, business, and public service.
MLFA congratulates Simon on this prestigious award.
MLFA online donations now up and running
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
We owe you an apology if you tried to make a donation to us on our website in the past week or so. Our PayPal donation system was down, but we’re pleased to say it is up and running again now! To donate or become a Friend, go to our help us page.
MLFA Awareness Day is Thursday 30 April 2009 - Martin Place, Sydney
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
We plan to grow significantly over 2009. We’ll be working with our patron, Simon Tedeschi and with our team of supporters to create events and let more people know about what we do.
Our first major event this year will be a MLFA awareness and Malawi promotion day to be held in the Wall Street of Australia: Martin Place, Sydney.
The promotion is being organised by Clive Hughes, an enthusiastic new member of the MLFA team. Clive recently stepped down as the CEO of a medium sized property company in Sydney, and is keen to show how capitalism, and the ‘super-sub-prime loans’ that MLFA deal in, can actually work to help the poor in a way that seems to be failing the rich. It should be a fun and informative day where we will share the stories of some of the women we lend to.
We will be in Martin Place 11:30am-2:30pm on Thursday 30th April - hopefully you will be able to get along, or possibly even help on the day if you are interested. We look forward to seeing you then.
Information about Malawi
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
All of MLFA’s funds go to women living in the Blantyre region, southern Malawi. Malawi is the 9th most impoverished country in the world. It’s in southern Africa, bordering with Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique and is home to around 13.9 million people. The average wage is just US$160 per annum or just US$0.43 per day. This is less than half of what is considered to be the poverty level of just US$1 per day.
Oxfam estimate that 1 in 7 people aged 15-49 years have HIV and as a result the country has close to 1 million orphans, which are being cared for by with aunties, uncles and grandparents.
Most Malawians rely on subsistence farming but drought followed by occasional destructive heavy rainfalls put the country in constant need of thousands of tonnes of food aid every year. The current financial crisis is expected to have dire effects on that food aid, and so also on the people of Malawi.
We help these communities, not with hand-outs but by giving the greatest gift of all: the chance for women to find their own way out of the poverty cycle forever, with respect.
The American arm of MLF, MLF USA, was also launched earlier this year and their chief executive, David Rice, travelled to Malawi in November. You can read his brilliantly written blog, and learn more about the women we help at http://david-malawi.blogspot.com/
Below is some of what he saw.
“With a US$40 loan, one entrepreneur has established a biscuit bakery and in only two months, she’s been able to save ten dollars. Before she became a client, she had no savings and was struggling to feed her children. Another woman, Joyce, is one of the leaders of the group, and one of the more successful entrepreneurs. She has a loan of US$60 and makes and sells beverages. Joyce’s husband passed away and she has 12 dependents – 5 of her own children and 7 orphans. In the villages of Malawi, when children lose their parents, there’s no one else to care for them other than the members of the community in which they live. The responsibility for providing that care falls to the most responsible women in the village, and Joyce is no exception.”
Also, if you are interested in seeing more about Malawi, you can watch a video made by Ewan McGregor who visited a hospital in Blantyre, Malawi and filmed his experience talking with people about women living with AIDS.
This is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC12ewyYYUI&NR=1
On the positive side, Malawi, fondly known as “The Warm Heart of Africa,” it is a beautiful country with some of the friendliest people in the world – so much so that it is one of the few countries never to have experienced a war! It is also the world’s No 5 strongest netball nation and beat South Africa in the recent World Cup held in New Zealand.
This website - a work-in-progress (as all good websites should be)
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Our website has been built by our major technical volunteer, David Bateson and we update the site from time to time - so please come back again soon - or subscribe to our email newsletter!
Gift a business
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
If you are looking to make a donation this year, why not provide the gift of a business to a woman client at our new office in Blantyre?
$100 will cover the average costs for one woman to start a sustainable business in Malawi, and allow us the resources to provide this woman with training and ongoing mentoring support to give them the opportunity to grow.
Major supporter announced
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
We our delighted to have received our first major donation by way of a pledge of $15,000 from an individual supporter, who wishes to remain an anonymous at this stage.
This sponsor said, “I am absolutely delighted to make this contribution to MLFA as I think the whole micro finance concept is such an intelligent way to provide help at a grass roots level. As the Foundation’s patron Sir Bob Geldof put it so aptly, it is better to give a person a “hand up rather than a hand out.””
This donation will help defer some of our initial infrastructure costs, and give us a significant contribution to the establishment of our first “Australian” office in Blantyre in southern Malawi.
Simon Tedeschi joins as patron of MicroLoan Foundation Australia
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
We are delighted to announce that renowned concert pianist Simon Tedeschi has agreed to be our new patron here in Australia. To read more about Simon visit our ‘patrons’ page.