Guest blog | Design is Political interview with Head of Lendwithcare Tracey Horner

This microfinance platform is helping some of the world's poorest people

This interview was originally posted on the Design is Political website here and has been reproduced here with their permission.

©Peter Caton

Lendwithcare helps people work their way out of poverty. The online platform allows users to make microloans (as small as £15) to those in some of the poorest parts of the world, who invest in building their businesses and improving their lives. We caught up with Tracey Horner, the woman behind the project, to find out more…

Guest blog | Neville Wright: Why I Lendwithcare

Not only has Lender of the Week Neville Wright made an incredible 1,192 Lendwithcare loans in just over 2 years, but until the 15th May he is also generously using any profits from his recent book launch to further support Lendwithcare. Amazing support! We got in touch to ask how and why he first started supporting Lendwithcare entrepreneurs.

Guest blog | Tanglin Trust Junior School raise over $6,000 for Lendwithcare entrepreneurs!

As you know, through Lendwithcare lenders can support poor entrepreneurs around the world with a small loan, enabling them to start and grow their own business, and work their own way out of poverty for them and their families.

You may not be aware that it is also a fantastic tool to engage children of all ages in a wide range of topics such as global poverty, overseas aid, personal finance and entrepreneurship.

One of our biggest school supporters is the Tanglin Trust Junior School in Singapore, who have chosen Lendwithcare as their school charity project. Each class at the Tanglin Trust has their own Lendwithcare account, so the students can keep track of their own fundraising, and choose and debate in class which entrepreneurs they want to support.

Recently Tanglin Trust held a whole week of activities to raise funds to lend in class to Lendwithcare entrepreneurs, and raised an incredible $6,000!

Tanglin Trust Year 3 class

Guest blog | Zimbabwean micro-entrepreneurs face additional challenges

Lendwithcare lenders have supported so far over 1,200 Zimbabwean micro-entrepreneurs through our partner Thrive Microfinance. Henry Bartram, Managing Director, explains how Lendwithcare loans are still making the difference for entrepreneurs despite the country’s difficult economic situation. He also shares his concerns with us about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe and its impact on the micro-entrepreneurs.

Guest blog | How hands forge human connections

This blog has been reposted with permission from Michelle Nicol.

Originally posted here.

One hand belongs to a project manager from a prestigious international law firm. The other to an 81-year-old villager and survivor of the most brutal, insidious civil war.

We are in Cambodia. We have cycled from Paksé in nearby Laos, to a small village community near Battambang to see the difference that CARE International is making to people’s lives through its micro-finance initiative Lendwithcare.

Guest blog | Who are you and what do you care about?

This blog has been posted here with permission from Michelle Nicol.
Originally posted here.

I visited Laos and Cambodia recently to find out more about the charity Lendwithcare, who help some of the world’s poorest people work their way out of poverty.

Guest blog | Laurie Lee: Recycled loans recycling plastic

Lendwithcare began supporting entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe, through Microfinance Institution Thrive, one year ago. I was able to visit the country recently and met some of the entrepreneurs that I - and 80 of you - had supported in June 2016. I met the Nokutenda group, which comprises four women entrepreneurs all running different businesses. By being part of a group they are able to support each other with practical advice and friendship.

I met three of them and showed them how Lendwithcare works. I was able to show them their profile on the Lendwithcare website, under “My Loans”, and show them all of the lenders who had contributed to their loan.

RubyMoon lends 100% of its profits to Lendwithcare women entrepreneurs

Lendwithcare now has a community of over 33,000 lenders, supporting over 45,000 entrepreneurs around the world.

One lender is ethical swimwear company RubyMoon, who uses 100% of their net profits to lend to women entrepreneurs through Lendwithcare. RubyMoon has been lending for 5 years, and so far has made 179 loans to women entrepreneurs and entrepreneur groups. We got in touch with founder Jo to find out more about why she wanted to involve RubyMoon in Lendwithcare, and her lending story so far.

Jo, founder of RubyMoon

Guest blog | A lender's experience meeting Lendwithcare entrepreneurs

Lendwithcare has recently lent £10 million to entrepreneurs across the world, and to celebrate, we are offering one lucky lender the chance to win a trip to Zambia to meet Lendwithcare entrepreneurs, and see the difference their loans have made.

Long-standing lender Gary Nicol shares his experience of when he met Lendwithcare entrepreneurs, by taking part in CARE's Vietnam to Cambodia cycle challenge:

Guest blog | The effect of El Niño in Malawi

Since mid-2015 now, the world has witnessed one of the strongest weather events of El Niño – a global weather phenomenon that affects rain patterns and temperatures around the world. It has triggered droughts and floods across Africa, Asia and Latin America, and now nearly 100 million people are facing shortages of food and water, and are open to disease. Malawi is suffering from its first maize deficit in a decade, driving prices 73% higher than they were in December.

We at Lendwithcare asked Danny, who volunteers at our microfinance partner organisation in Malawi, how the recent droughts were affecting the country, and in particular, borrowers:

Crowdfunding: A Cure to the World's Social Problems?

This blog was written by Lendwithcare lender, Jan Tchamani, and originally posted on DuCredit's website. It has been re-posted here with permission.

 

The Chitimba Women's Group, supported by Jan through Lendwithcare

Crowdfunding activity has been on the rise for a few years. With the rise of Kickstarter and other platforms, no sector benefits more fruitfully from crowd funding initiatives than the 3rd sector.

Micro-finance initiatives allow anyone to invest small amounts of money which make a huge difference to entrepreneurs and workers in the third world. Allowing them to provide a sustainable future for their families.

We asked one UK based donor, Jan Tchamani, one of AgeUK’s current internet champions, why she chose to give through crowdfunding and tell us a little about her experience of charitable giving through LendWithCare.

Guest blog | You don’t have to wait for Christmas!!

This blog was originally posted on Richard Kemp's blog and has been re-posted here with his permission.

Pictured above is Ghulam Qadir who has a recycling business in Pakistan

I have to admit that I am not an easy person to buy things for at Christmas and birthdays. I am lucky that I can afford to buy things that I need and have very few things that I want to buy on top of that except for stamps (I am a stamp collector).

Guest blog | Lending: the new giving?

This blog was originally posted on Tim Bishop's definitelymaybe blog and has been re-posted here with his permission. 

 

Vietnamese hill tribe handicrafts © CARE / Tim Bishop

Following my donations

Jun Pérez, President of SEED Finance and Amy Lithgoe

It’s not often you get to know how the money you donate to charity is actually spent but today I was able to meet Jun Perez, President of SEED Finance, the Filipino partner of lendwithcare.org.  I’ve always thought the whole concept of lendwithcare.org is fantastic and was keen to find out more about how the scheme actually operates on the ground.