Despite the early hour, the morning sun is nearly blinding when D. Ellevva and her fellow clients gather at a SHARE center meeting in the rural village of Parvatapur in Andhra Pradesh. About 25 women, or five groups, sit on the floor of the school house porch, patiently waiting as each group leader collects loan payments from the women in her group and gives them to the local SHARE center manager. Ellevva, seated in the front row, efficiently gathers up the payments from her group members and counts the bills before giving them to the center manager.
Ellevva’s quiet confidence and sense of responsibility make her an ideal group leader. It was a 5000 rs loan from SHARE eight months ago that gave her the opportunity to capitalize on these skills and use them to grow a micro-business. Ellevva and her husband, Durgiah, live in a small, one room house made of mud and sticks. Before taking a loan from SHARE, both worked as day laborers for meager wages (usually 20rs per day for a woman and 40 rs per day for a man) and struggled to make ends meet.
With her first loan, Ellevva purchased a buffalo that recently gave birth to a calf. It will now produce milk that Ellevva can sell in the market. With a second “special” loan of 3000 rs, she purchased two goats and some vegetables. When she purchases vegetables, Ellevva sells some a nd grinds the rest (the pulses [legumes] and dal [lentils]) into flour. Already thinking ahead to her next loan, Ellevva wants to purchase another buffalo.
Though it is only eight months since her first loan, Elleva can see the difference it has made in her life. “I am very happy to have gotten a loan,” she says. “Now I have my own business, earn a regular income, and no longer have to work as a day laborer.”
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Grameen Foundation
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Grameen Foundation's mission is to empower
the world's poorest people to lift
themselves out of poverty with dignity
through access to financial services and
to information.
With tiny loans, financial services and
technology, we help the poor, mostly
women, start self-sustaining businesses to
escape poverty. Founded in 1997 by a group
of friends who were inspired by the work
of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, our global
network of microfinance partners reaches
over 3.6 million families in 25 countries.
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