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International, Global

INT05a - Key Family Empowerment

• View report dated: August 31, 2021

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Report Date: September 15, 2022

Details of Second Loan  

Overview

Crispin is a key man in the Harvest Partnership network. He lives in the city of Uvira on Lake Tanganyika. He oversees the training of churches in small group, Bible reading, house churches and has seen hundreds of these groups formed. Currently he is supported from outside the country and while there may be an ongoing need for this to continue at some level, we want to see him being able to support his family and ministry himself. 

Crispin is an energetic leader and quite entrepreneurial. He has a large family and already has his own hardware shop to generate income for himself. He is resourceful and hard working. The fact that Crispin has already worked hard to get something going is a very good indication that this proposal has a good chance of success. 

The idea is to lend him money to purchase fast moving products to boost his business. We would lend US$2,000 interest free for two years and at the end of that time see whether a further amount could be loaned, a lower amount, US$1,500.

Business Details

The hardware business this loan will support has been operating for six years already but requires a boost. Currently it partially supports Crispin, Chance and their family, but with many children of school age, he requires a higher income for the next few years. 

Currently the monthly turnover in the shop is between US$500-$550 with expenses of around US$200. Most of that needs to be reinvested in the business purchasing stock. They take out between US$100-$150/month depending on the needs. 

They carry hardware items such as tiles, locks, taps, plastic pipes, paint, hammers, floodlights, mason's wire, windows, and sockets. However, many of these items are slow moving and they want a boost to purchase fast moving items to speed up their cash flow. This would be wheelbarrows, ceiling boards and roofing iron.

Crispin is very open to learning about business and we have frequent discussions about this. One of his issues is the amount of capital he has tied up in slow moving products. We have talked about having a sale and he understands that. He is good at communicating. This loan will give him the opportunity to maintain cashflow and grow his business while he moves the slower moving stock off his shelves.

 

Vision and Strategy

Vision

The vision is that Crispin, and eventually all the key people in Harvest Partnership, would require no funding from outside Africa, at least for their personal support. 

Strategy

The strategy is to grow the hardware shop and the business to a size that makes it possible for Crispin and his family to be self-sustaining economically.  

 

Risks

There is always a risk running a business in the DR Congo. The fact that their business has survived the ongoing internal unrest is a testament to their ability to run a business, and then to come through the Covid pandemic still operating says a lot. 

The local instability is the greatest challenge as it limits the growth of communities and creates less people with the capacity to purchase the type of products they are selling. However, Uvira is a large city and there is always someone needing hardware items. 

Budget

This will be a 4-year project:
Phase one will involve a loan of US$2,000 interest free to be repaid at US$100/month after no repayments for the first 4 months (total of 2 years)

Phase 2 - after repayment of the first loan, a second loan of US$1,500 be given for ongoing growth which will be repaid over 18 months. 

 

Comments

This is the result of years of persevering in discussions and it looks on paper like a viable way for Crispin to become more effective. 

Crispin and Chance are a great couple and very active in ministry as well as trying to support themselves. Crispin spends about 70% of his time in ministry and 30% on the business and family. Chance runs the shop during the day while Crispin is out and about. In the evenings they go over the day and make decisions about the business. 

We also like the outcomes that are produced by men like Crispin in their ministry of training churches to think more holistically about what churches should look like and how they should operate.