Programs: Fonkoze
Announced:
October 12, 2010
Category:
Providing Small & Growing Businesses with Access to Financing & Business Services
Fund Amount: $269,892 Grant
Above, female entrepreneurs receive financing
to expand or start their own businesses.
See more in the Fonkoze Photo Gallery.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund grant to Fonkoze supported the recovery and development of small and growing businesses in Haiti by providing them with access to the professional services, business guidance, and knowledge they need to become investment ready.
Fonkoze recruited nine Haitian business analysts to identify promising small and growing businesses and evaluate their needs and potential for growth. The Fund funded seven of these nine analysts. Fonkoze established a voucher program with a preselected network of business development services firms, providing support for businesses that will help them become investment ready. Once deemed ready for investment, Fonkoze linked these small and growing businesses to the capital they need to run thriving businesses. This program worked to lay the foundation for strong, long-term development in Haiti’s private sector.
Bilha Fanfan: A Fonkoze Success Story
When Bilha Fanfan, a 34-year-old businesswoman, came to Fonkoze to apply for an interest-free loan, the beauty salon she had owned since 2007 was in poor shape.
The earthquake had cracked the inverter helping power her salon, leaving her salon with unreliable electricity for several months. Bilha would often lose power for as many as 3 days at a time, causing her to lose key business days, and her staff to lose work. Though Bilha used to get loans from local banks to finance her business, the interest rates simply became too high.
Just like many other business owners in Port-au-Prince, her situation was dire.
That's when Bilha learned about Fonkoze's Small and Medium Enterprise Recovery & Development program, which facilitates access of interest-free loans for micro-enterprises. She was invited to attend a management training session held by Fonkoze and eventually applied to receive a loan through Fonkoze's website Zafen.
22 days later, Bilha received a loan of $3,500, allowing her to purchase a new inverter and batteries. The loan rescued her business, and she since earned enough to successfully repay Fonkoze and see her salon grow and thrive.
Why We Invested in Fonkoze
By supporting access to capital and business development services needed to build a vibrant private sector, Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's grant to Fonkoze reflected our commitment to creating economic opportunity by supporting small and growing businesses.
Transforming Lives and Livelihoods
- Recruited nine Haitian business analysts to identify promising small and growing businesses and evaluate their needs and potential for growth (the Fund supported seven of these analysts).
- Facilitated access to capital for those businesses deemed investment-ready.
- Established a voucher program with a preselected network of business development services firms to provide support to help businesses become investment-ready.
- Provided access to commercial credit opportunities for emerging small and growing businesses.
About Fonkoze
Fonkoze is the largest microfinance institution (MFI) in Haiti, serving more than 45,000 female borrowers (most of whom live and work in rural areas), and more than 200,000 depositors. With a network of branches covering every region of Haiti, Fonkoze is also the only microfinance institution that is truly national in scope. Fonkoze, in partnership with the Vincentian Family, DePaul University, and the Haitian Hometown Associations Resource Group, created a website called Zafen (meaning "It's Our Business" in Creole) that provides Haitian small and growing businesses with access to capital through zero-interest loans and grants. Learn more about Fonkoze at www.fonkoze.org.
