July, 2007
A year ago, Devanand, 42, had lost the ability to see objects as fine as a needle and thread, and his tailoring business was faltering. Desperate to support his two children, he went to a local clinic where he was found to have presbyopia, an age-related disorder in which the eyes progressively lose the ability to focus. The clinic sold him a pair of corrective glasses for 150 rupees, or $3.72. Devanand was immediately able to return to his craft.
Can markets work for the poor? Acumen Fund, a non-profit venture fund, believes so. In Mumbai, the fund has tied up with the pharmacy chain Medicine Shop, which has 140 shops in high-end locations like Gurgaon bordering Delhi.
Kenya passed a Microfinance Act late last year, which provides a legal framework for regulating microfinance institutions (MFIs), which lend to micro-entrepreneurs.
M. Thanaletchumy is cleaning her small stall outside a block of low-cost apartments where she lives, when two hungry customers come by.
They want idly, or steamed rice cakes, but everything is sold out. It’s late morning in Selayang, Kuala Lumpur, and the 50-year-old single mother has made RM90 from selling roti canai and other snacks.
Microfinance holds the key to unlocking the potential of the Small and Micro Enterprises sector to contribute to Kenya’s economic development and alleviate poverty, a top bank official said.
Mrs Winnie Kathurima, the Change and Corporate Affairs Director of Equity Bank, said SMEs should be well funded in order to contribute effectively to economic growth. “Microfinance is our anchor for economic growth,” said Mrs Kathurima. “It could revolutionise Kenya’s transformation to a developed country status.”
The fishermen from the Indian village of Chidambaram live a hard life. They sleep most of the day, then spend the night out on the water.
For light during those dark hours, they have long depended on wobbly kerosene lamps that were easily blown out or, worse, toppled by the wind, risking deadly fires on their boats.